Pockets in Time
by helloprilly
Summary: The Doctor and Donna return from a little adventure for some supplies, as usual things don't go quite according to plan. Part 2 in the Phoenix Universe. Doctor/Donna. 10/Donna
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note:_ _This is the second story in the Phoenix Universe. A little short story between She Burns and the next big story arc that I have planned for this universe. All you need to know so far is that the Doctor managed to save Donna from burning as a result of the metacrisis, Donna now has telepathy and the ability to see disturbances in time much like a Time Lord. Oh, and the Doctor and Donna have been married since the Metacrisis due to the bond that was formed between the two of them in that instant. Oh yeah, and she can hear the Tardis now as well. I think I've about summed it up in a nutshell._

 _This story was inspired by the song the Sound of Silence and the Star trek the Next generation episode "Timescape" as well as the Doctor Who Episode "Journey to the Centre of the Tardis" I know quite a mash up there, but it all seemed to fit together in my head into this story. Welcome back and I hope you enjoy the ride!_

* * *

" _Hello Darkness, my old friend…."_

It was supposed to have been a quick stop to pick up new space suits in preparation for a little trip with Donna's grandfather, Wilf. Since the Doctor's only suit had been ruined with the destruction of Bowie Base one, a trip to the future had become a necessity.

The Doctor had been adamant that it would be just a quick trip off the Tardis and then they would be on their way once more. Donna should have known better than to believe that anything could ever be simple where the Doctor was concerned.

"Donna, look out!"

The Doctor's shout caused Donna to instinctively throw herself to the side, narrowly avoiding the blaster bolt that had been aimed at her retreating figure. She ducked behind a pitted wall, her breath exploding through parted lips as the Doctor pounded past her.

He held a large bag that was filled with helmets and various other items while she clutched four orange spacesuits to her chest. It was the forty-fourth century and the Tardis had landed on the third moon of Kalifa where an earth mining colony had been set up several centuries before.

The Doctor had expounded on how the colony had been a shining example of humanity's ability to adapt to new environments and set aside deep seated racial prejudices to build a better, more integrated society. Instead of finding a futuristic utopia, they had stepped out of the Tardis into a war zone.

"I don't know why I'm still surprised when everything goes wrong, Doctor. I swear the Tardis seems to enjoy not going where you want her to."

The Doctor was pressed against the wall beside Donna, his wild eyed gaze looking down the alley that they crouched within before he replied, "She's just being nice to you, Donna. Trust me, she'll get around to not listening to you eventually too." The Doctor sounded decidedly put out that his ship was on her best behavior whenever Donna tried her hand at piloting. Yet when it was his hand on the controls, she sent them into war zones or famines or any other number of disasters.

Donna was having far too much fun teasing him about his piloting and he knew that the Tardis was doing it on purpose. Maybe he was a magnet for trouble, but the law of averages should mean that he landed on that beach that he was always aiming for at least once in awhile. It wasn't fair that Donna always managed to nail her landings.

There was a series of angry shouts not far behind them, followed by the sound of pounding feet as the soldiers continued their search of the city. The Doctor had been unable to stand by when he saw what the government had devolved into and the ethnic cleansings that were being carried out against aliens of any kind had been enough to fire his rage to new and dizzying heights.

So what had started out as a supplies run, had turned into a teensy bit of rebellion and the Doctor and Donna had lit the fire for the local population to throw off their shackles of fear and rise up against a corrupt government. It seemed that that government wasn't too happy with their involvement in inciting said rebellion.

There was a faint whisper of thought in the Doctor's mind, a gentle brush that had both Donna and the Doctor looking up as the Tardis let her presence be known.

The Doctor grabbed Donna's hand and whispered, "This way, Donna! Quickly before they block us off from the Tardis."

Donna looked up at him with a fiery smile, her eyes shining as together they tiptoed down the length of the alley before ducking around another derelict building and out into a small square. She gasped in relief as she saw the Tardis tucked against the side of a building on the other side of the square, her doors already opening in welcome as the two of them sprinted into the open.

"There they are! Halt! Halt in the name of the Grand Regent!"

The Doctor looked over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw the crush of soldiers boiling out of two other alleys. Their blasters were leveled at the two of them and he knew without a doubt that they were almost out of time.

He reached out and with an inhuman show of strength shoved Donna the last few steps towards the open doors of the Tardis right as the soldiers opened fire. He spun around, ignoring Donna's indignant shout of protest, his hands clutching the bag of helmets to his chest in a poor attempt to shield himself from the blasts that he knew were coming.

There was a gentle brush against the back of his neck followed by a heave as Donna's hand reached back into his collar and yanked him bodily through the doors of the Tardis. He landed inelegantly on his backside just as the weapons fire exploded harmlessly against the side of the ship.

His last view of the moon of Kalifa was that of the angry soldiers running flat out towards the Tardis, Donna's fingers flew over the controls with guidance from the ship in order to send her to safety. She now stood leaning against the console, her arms crossed over her chest and her blue eyes flashing sparks at the Doctor as he sprawled on the floor by the double doors.

Donna had rushed to the console as soon as she had pulled the Doctor into the safety of the Tardis, right before the doors slammed closed and Donna sent the ship into the vortex.

"Would it kill you just once to take a look at the scanner before stepping foot outside those doors? Just once, you could look and we would know what we were getting into before we step knee deep in muck?"

The Doctor grinned in spite of himself, his hand rising to run distractedly through his hair as he let his gaze roam over Donna in obvious delight. His wife was definitely in a mood and he found himself looking forward to making it up to her in so many delicious ways.

"Where would the fun in that be, Donna? I've been traveling this way for nearly a millennium and have never regretted one day of the adventure! Besides, the Tardis doesn't always tell me everything I need to know when we land on a planet. She likes to let me muddle along on my own, probably because I think better on my feet, when you think about it?"

Donna snorted in response to his comment, her toe tapping when she felt the distracted turn his thoughts had taken. It had been a very long week that they had spent on that moon where they had been embroiled with the rebels as they had plotted to overthrow the government. The Doctor had tried for a bloodless revolution and for the most part, they had been successful in keeping the casualties to an absolute minimum.

Neither of them had had much privacy during that week and even though they had stated that they were married, accommodations were such that they were sleeping three and four to a bed. She knew that she was angry mostly because of the stress of the last few days and that it was nothing that a long soak in their bathtub wouldn't cure.

Donna watched as the Doctor got up to his feet, his eyes locked with hers even as his thoughts were already sliding deliciously into her mind. She couldn't deny that it felt wonderful to have his mind fully enmeshed in hers once more. While they had been on the planet he had been so focused on working with the rebels and she had been so focused on helping the people try to bring some sense of normalcy into their shattered lives that their minds had only touched briefly on occasion.

 _I always take you where you need to go, Doctor, and I always will._

The Doctor looked up at the time rotor with a grin, his eyes shining momentarily when he felt the warmth in the ship's thought. She had taken care of him for centuries, just as he had tried to always take care of her. "That you have, old girl, that you have. Now let's go get Wilf!"

The Doctor began to program the coordinates for their return trip to earth, his fingers flying over the controls before he reached up to throw the final lever into position.

Donna felt the scream of panic from the Tardis a split second before the control room exploded into chaos. She reached up to grab the Doctor's hand but it was already too late and the damage had been done.

The Doctor looked at Donna with terror in his eyes, his mouth opening around a soundless scream as the Tardis let out one final wail before she vanished completely from both of their minds.

Donna tried to hold on to the Doctor as the control console blew apart beside them, the last thing she remembered were the tears that had suddenly sprung to the Doctor's eyes before her head slammed against a coral strut and the world went blessedly dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Something was burning.

Donna groaned as she tried to blink her eyes open, but the pounding in her head kept her from moving too quickly. She lay still trying to take stock of her injuries, the blinding headache and sense of motion even as she was laying still made her realize she most likely had a concussion at the very least.

She took a deep breath, willing the pounding of her head to subside as she systematically began to wiggle her fingers and toes. Her breath hitched with the pain that shot through her left thigh, but thankfully the pain quickly subsided into a dull throb.

"Alright, Donna. Quit stalling, time to move."

Donna winced at the explosion of pain in her temples at the sound of her own voice, but that didn't stop her from forcing her eyes open so that she could try to see if the Doctor was alright.

It worried her that he was so quiet in her mind, her mental fingers were fumbling against absolute emptiness and she worried that he had been injured far worse than she had been. First though, she had to get herself moving before she had any hope of finding and tending to the Doctor.

She was laying face down by one of the coral struts near the door of the Tardis, her body was sprawled at an inelegant angle along the side of the wall and her head was turned painfully back towards the control console.

The flashing of sparks lit the room at irregular intervals, but the console itself seemed to be largely intact though the time rotor was decidedly dim in its casing. The grating had buckled in several places and the contents of the compartments beneath were strewn haphazardly across the room, where they weren't wedged in the holes of the grating.

Donna moved her gaze over the control room, trying to find the Doctor without any success. She blinked several times as there seemed to be glowing circles of varying sizes scattered across the room, a sure sign of that concussion she had been worried about.

She couldn't quell the panic that was beginning to bubble deep in her stomach when she couldn't find the Doctor, and the continued silence in her head was only making matters worse.

"Doctor?"

To Donna's ears, her voice sounded rather weak and pathetic, but it was hard to get a proper breath with her body twisted against the wall like a pretzel. She forced her hands under her chest and carefully lifted herself away from the strut that she had been propped against, crying out softly at the pain that exploded through her head and side. She was definitely in rough shape, but the fact that she was able to move at all made her think that it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Her hand rose to her head when the control room spun around her more violently now that she was sitting upright, the glowing circles seemed to be dancing across her vision in nauseating waves and they didn't disappear no matter how much she blinked.

The Doctor was nowhere to be seen, and that place in her mind that she had long associated with him was still completely silent. Forcing herself to her feet, Donna was forced to hold on to the coral strut for support while the world began to violently whirl around her.

"DOCTOR?"

Donna's voice was sounding more firm and slightly more panicked as she called out to the Doctor once more, but there was still no response from either the Time Lord or his ship.

Donna pushed herself away from her perch, her head lifting to gaze around the control room to try to see where the Doctor might have landed. She didn't know what those circles were but she felt that she should avoid them just in case they weren't hallucinations, and as she rounded the control console she felt her heart nearly drop through her feet at the sight before her.

The Doctor stood frozen with one arm outstretched, his mouth was open around a silent scream and his body was suspended several inches off the ground. His eyes looked to be dark pools of panic even as his hand looked to be trying to grab onto something.

Donna cried out when she saw the Doctor, tears instantly springing to her eyes when she saw the absolute terror that was etched across his face. She rushed across the control room, heedless of the pain that was screaming through her body and barely noticing the faint outline of a glowing circle around the Doctor and much of the control console before she ran smack into the barrier.

Donna screamed. She screamed louder than she thought was possible when she hit that barrier, her body began spasming in reaction to the energy that suddenly raced from head to toe. She could see the Doctor just ahead of her, but he may as well have been a million miles away before she felt her body repulsed and thrown back several feet.

White light exploded behind her eyes and Donna came to her senses half crouched on the floor, her head cradled in her hands as tears flowed freely down her face. She'd been right to avoid those circles, but she could see that some of them were moving sluggishly across the control room, one seemed to be half embedded in the wall of the Tardis while another drifted lazily through the air towards the corridor to their room.

She rose to her feet once more, her eyes locked on the Doctor's tormented stare as she slowly made her way back to his side. As she got closer to the circle, she let her eyes trace its edges, not failing to notice that a large portion of the circle was also encompassing a portion of the time rotor and the control console. The Doctor looked to have a dark smudge on his cheek, but other than that mark he seemed to be completely fine. She took a deep breath as she came right up to the edge of the shimmering barrier, her breath ghosting lightly along its surface.

"Doctor, can you hear me?"

Donna reached out with everything she had towards the void in her mind, her fingers scrabbling desperately along its edges as she called out to him. He was standing less than a foot away from her, but he may as well have been halfway across the galaxy as both he and the Tardis remained totally silent.

She took a deep breath and reached out to touch the circle one more time, grimacing at the electric shock that seemed to race up her arm as she pushed her hand deeper into the circle. Her muscles started to cramp and the tingling quickly raced further up her arm as she pushed her hand closer to the Doctor. She actually managed to brush his outstretched hand before the electric shock exploded through her body and flung her back away from the circle once more.

Donna was more prepared for the shock this time, her feet were already braced against its repulsive force and her eyes remained glued to the Doctor's the entire time. His expression didn't change but when she managed to clear the stars from her eyes, she noticed that his hand had changed position and those outstretched fingers were now clenched tightly closed.

"I knew it! You are in there!" Donna felt elation surge through her body, momentarily blocking out the pain of her injuries and flooding her with a much needed rush of adrenaline. She raised her hand to her lips, nibbling thoughtfully on her thumb as she began to pace along the confines of the Doctor's prison.

She couldn't think of that circle in any other way, the Doctor seemed to be frozen in time and he was trapped inside a bubble of who knew what sort of energy and it was up to her to find a way to get him out.

"Come on, Donna, think! You know you can't touch him, the minute you do you're pushed away. How can I get him out of there?" Her pacing took her back and forth along the undamaged section of grating, the flaring of sparks had dimmed since she had opened her eyes but the controls were even more faint than they had been before and the lighting in the room was starting to fail as well. She didn't have much time before she was plunged into total darkness and the Tardis would most likely begin to fall out of the vortex to crash who knew where.

She had to get the Doctor out of that bubble of energy quickly, because she truly had no idea what would happen once the last of the Tardis systems failed. She couldn't let herself think about the damage that had been done to the old girl, that last panicked scream she had heard before she had been thrown across the console room couldn't have been good.

Donna's gaze raced around the control room, trying to find anything that she could use to help the Doctor when her eyes fell on the two mallets that usually hung on a hook under the console but were now tossed against the wall of the Tardis. She looked back at the Doctor for a moment, her lip quivering before she deftly picked her way across the broken grates of the control room and bent down to retrieve the heavier rubber mallet.

She couldn't touch the Doctor without the energy from whatever that bubble was pushing her back, but what if she didn't touch him? She had felt how much the energy had pushed back against her hand as she had reached out to the Doctor, what if she got enough momentum up to overcome that energy and managed to knock the Doctor clear out of the way?

Donna walked slowly back to the Doctor's side, her eyes were pleading up into his blank gaze as she silently begged him to understand why she had to do what she was about to do.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I don't really have a choice and we both really need you right now."

She tried to once more in vain to reach out to him with her mind, not really expecting anything to respond from that void that seemed to be growing larger by the second. She worried that she would be a gibbering mess soon if she didn't manage to release him, and she couldn't help but remember his words when he had spoken about the time that their link had been severed.

She could feel the fluttering of terror in her belly as her mind was now continuously scrabbling along the walls of silence in her mind, the panic that she couldn't control even though she was standing there looking right at him. This was something that they were definitely going to need to work on if they managed to make it out of this situation in one piece. They couldn't be falling to pieces every time something happened to suppress their bond and she certainly couldn't risk him losing his sometimes tenuous control on the madness of the Time Lord Victorious if anything were to ever happen to her.

She couldn't think about those future times now though, she had to act and she had to act quickly before the choice was taken from her.

Taking one final look at the Doctor as he stood frozen within a bubble of energy mere inches from her face, she licked her lips and whispered softly. "I'm sorry, Doctor."

Donna hefted the mallet in her hands and reached back before swinging towards the barrier in front of her with all her might. Electricity once more shot up through her arms and raced through her chest into her head but it was like the electric current had fused her hands to the handle of the mallet. She couldn't let go of the worn wood if she had tried.

She felt herself screaming as her entire body rung like a bell had been struck, the forward momentum of her swing felt like it was moving through a sea of jelly as her muscles strained for every bit of distance. She was staring wide eyed at the Doctor, absently tracking the progress of the mallet as it seemed to swim closer and closer to his body.

Donna's head was spinning and the world was starting to go dim around her, she knew that she most likely wouldn't have another chance to break the Doctor free and so with a final scream of effort she forced her spasming muscles to push that final millimeter to connect with the Doctor's chest.

White light exploded through her head and the Doctor's screaming voice suddenly filled her mind to near bursting. She looked up in time to see the Doctor be flung backwards out of the circle of light before her hands were forcibly ripped from the handle of the mallet and the world began to reel in response.

 _Thank god it worked…._ Her mind whispered as she heard the Doctor's voice crying out in dismay when she fell to the floor. The last thing she remembered was the brush of the Doctor's hand across her cheek before the tingling after effects of electrical energy chased her back into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

_"_ _I've come to talk with you again…"_

* * *

A voice was whispering in her mind.

Donna groaned softly as she began the arduous process of swimming up through the heavy layers of unconsciousness; layers that seemed determined she stay immersed deeply where it was cool and safe.

It was hard to focus on any single sensation as her entire body seemed to be throbbing in pain of some kind or another, but it was the pounding in her head that gave her the most concern. She tried to raise her hand to touch her temple and that was when she became aware of the hand that she had been tightly clutching.

"Donna. Please wake up, Donna. I can't do much more for you until I can stabilize the Tardis."

Donna forced herself to blink her eyes open when she heard the Doctor's voice, the concern in his tone was painfully obvious even as the gentle murmur in her mind ceased.

The light in the control room seemed to be even more dim than it had been before, but it was hard to tell with the Doctor's bruised face leaning into her field of vision. She winced at the vivid bruise she saw arching across one cheekbone and up into his hairline, while his shirt was unbuttoned halfway down his chest.

His smile could have lit up a sun as he saw her eyes focus on him for a moment before they slid partially closed again, his hand reached up to lightly brush her left temple before he murmured.

"Oh no you don't, Donna. Come on, focus on me and keep those gorgeous eyes open. I need to see your eyes, Donna."

"You're being a total prawn, Timeboy." Donna's voice sounded pitiful even to her own ears, but she listened to the Doctor's voice and willed her eyes to flutter open once more.

"That's better." The smile on his face belied the concern in his eyes, and the silence in her mind was even more worrisome. He leaned away from her for a moment before his sonic swam through her vision, the blue light was strangely soothing before he set it aside once more.

"You've got a pretty nasty concussion, though I'm sure you already knew that. I've given you some medication that should begin to ease your dizziness, but I don't want you to move too quickly right now." He finally leaned away from Donna, his hand rising to rub tiredly over his face before he sighed. "You shouldn't have done what you did, Donna. You had no idea what could've happened to you."

Donna let out bark of laughter, her eyes clenching closed for a moment as the pain flared before she opened them and turned her head towards the Doctor. She groaned when she saw the circles were still floating around the control room, though the large circle that had enveloped the Doctor looked to have drifted towards the doors to the outside. The control panel was completely free of any spheres at the moment, and its panels had been ripped open with wires pulled out in what was obviously an attempt at repairs.

The Doctor was leaning back against an opened panel, his opened shirt revealing a spectacular bruise that covered half his chest. She winced in spite of herself, her hand rising to brush the cool skin lightly before she looked back into his pained eyes. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Doctor. But I really had no choice. The Tardis is in trouble and I can't fix her. I've barely learned to pilot her but I could tell that she was going to fall out of the vortex if I'd waited much longer. I didn't know what else to do."

The Doctor laughed softly, his hand rising to hold her warm fingers to his chest for a brief moment. "You managed to crack a few ribs, but those will heal pretty quickly once I can get the medical bay back online. First thing though, I need to repair the old girl before we really do fall out of the vortex."

Donna remembered the scream from the Tardis before the control room had exploded, that panicked shout had been right before she had vanished from Donna's mind and she realized that the Tardis was still completely silent.

Donna sat up with a sudden gasp, her eyes clenching closed when the world seemed to tumble end over end with the movement. The Doctor's worried shout in her mind was a lifeline to which she could cling as she fought to bring her senses back under control. "Easy, Donna! I told you not to move too fast. Those drugs haven't had enough time to work properly."

She swayed slightly against the Doctor as he leaned close to support her, her body melting gratefully into his embrace before she was able to calm the riotous spinning in her head. She gingerly touched her left temple, the point that seemed to have borne the brunt of both impacts and winced softly when she felt the cloth that had been wound about her head.

The Doctor just held her close, happy that she was conscious once more even though she was in obvious distress. He was having to fight against his natural instinct to connect with her mind because he just didn't know the extent of her concussion and he didn't know if the mental contact would actually do more harm than good. He couldn't completely keep from touching her mind though, especially when he saw how much comfort she drew from the connection.

They were running out of time and he was loathe to have her move too soon, but he needed her help to make the necessary repairs to the Tardis before it was too late. It was the trip to get to the area that was damaged that was of the most concern to him. He shoved that fear from his mind though when she looked up at him, her blue eyes shining with tears when she asked, "Is the Tardis dead, Doctor?"

"No, she's not. But she is very seriously damaged, probably more damaged than she has ever been before." He had never been so happy to be able to answer a question as truthfully as the one that Donna had just asked. She stared into his eyes for a few moments, her thoughts strangely quiet as she studied his expressions before she smiled in joyous relief.

"Oh God, I'm so happy, Doctor. When I couldn't feel her any more, I'd feared the worst; but what's happened? What are all these circles and where did they come from?"

The Doctor jerked at her last question, his gaze jumping up to scan around the control room before he looked back to her with a question blazing in his eyes. "What circles, Donna? What can you see?"

Donna jerked back when she heard the Doctor's question. Her eyes slid closed when the pain stabbed through her temples and the world spun on its axis once more. "What do you mean? Can't you see what I do? I thought you were always in my head?"

The confusion and pain in Donna's voice cut the Doctor to the quick, he heard in that pained whisper all the confusion and worry of a person who was apart from everyone around them. Donna was still worried about her differences. She still did her best to shield everyone she met from those differences, though sometimes those differences shined through whether she wanted them to or not. However, in this case, she was looking at him with concern writ plainly on her face; wondering why he wasn't aware of what she was seeing and worried that once again she was too different to be so readily accepted.

The Doctor pulled her close, his lips brushing her temple before he forced his eyes to clench tightly closed. "I'm worried about your injury, Donna. I don't want to touch your mind until I know the severity of your concussion. Frankly, I'm terrified to hurt you more."

Donna shook her head with a laugh, the dizzying waves of vertigo already fading away far more quickly than they had even a few moments ago. She reached up to touch his cheek, her fledgling mind reaching out to his despite his cry of concern so that she could immerse herself in his thoughts. "You worry too much, Doctor. We both need you now, and you especially need what I can see. Don't be scared of looking for it, I've been through worse and I know that we can fix it in the end."

The Doctor looked down into Donna's blue eyes, the amazing spirit that refused to be cowed was wrapping itself around him and not letting him suppress their connection. He cried out softly as he felt his entire being melt into her essence once more, his eyes sliding closed so that his mind could reach out through her enhanced senses.

He fumbled for a moment, his concern for her well being still overriding his every thought until he felt her mind gently enfold his and guide him to her visual perceptions.

The Doctor gasped when he blinked open his mental eyes, his gaze shifting frantically from corner to corner until he felt a dizzying wave of vertigo nearly overwhelm the both of them. He clenched their eyes closed, their minds were swirling with the overload of stimuli as well as the aftereffects of a not insignificant concussion; but he finally understood what Donna was seeing.

Donna was trembling in his arms. Her head was hurting more than it had been since she had regained consciousness, but the vertigo was almost completely passed. She had reveled in the connection with the Doctor, though it had taxed her mind more than she would have liked. He hadn't been too cautious when he had withheld that contact from her since her mind was not as accustomed to the telepathic connection; but she still missed his thoughts and the silence was vast enough that she knew she would never be comfortable for long without his presence again.

"I'd scanned the disturbances in the Tardis before you regained consciousness, so I knew that the damage was pretty severe but what I just saw confirmed my worst concerns."

"What's going on, Doctor? How bad is it and where's the Tardis? I can't feel her in my thoughts at all." Donna frowned worriedly when the Doctor didn't immediately answer her question.

Instead, the Doctor pulled away from Donna for a moment, his gaze was carefully hooded as he picked up a tattered, ancient book that had been resting on its spine near the control console. He settled into a cross legged position by her side, his fingers twitching nervously against the pages of the book before he took a deep breath and finally responded to her concern.

"Have you ever heard of a panic room, Donna?"

Donna blinked in confusion at the Doctor's question, her gaze lifting to his troubled eyes before she nodded. "I have, but what does that have to do with what's going on right now?"

The Doctor huffed a tired sigh, his left hand rising to run distractedly through his disheveled hair while he gathered his thoughts. "It has everything to do with our current situation actually." The confusion was plain on Donna's face, but he could also tell that she was getting more worried by the minute with his evasion.

"The Tardis is safe for the moment, but I'm not sure how long that will be true. Her consciousness has retreated from its primary housing into a sort of panic room in order to protect herself from further damage."

Donna chewed on her lip thoughtfully for a moment, her gaze rising to the time rotor as it sluggishly moved in its casing. The light was growing more dim by the moment and she could feel their time quickly slipping away from them. "How can you be sure she's safe there, Doctor? Can you feel her still?"

The Doctor nodded, his hand rising to tap his temple in response. "Yes, I can but nothing more than a whisper of her presence. We've been bonded for centuries so it's all but impossible for her to be completely severed from me while we're actually inside the ship. It's just a knowledge of where she is and that she is safe, but terrified at the moment."

"Why is she in hiding, Doctor? Do the spheres have something to do with all of this?"

"The fabric of reality has shattered inside the Tardis. The disturbances are going to continue to get worse until the ship is literally ripped apart unless we can repair the damage."

Donna gasped when she heard those words, her hand flying to her throat while her gaze darted around the control room with a new feeling of dread. "Then those spheres are actually…?"

"Miniature pockets of time that are spreading throughout the ship due to a rupture in the Tardis' dimensional multiphasic transducer."

Donna looked at the Doctor blankly before she muttuered. "In English, Spaceman."

The Doctor slammed the book closed, his eyes shining with renewed purpose as he jumped to his feet. "The Tardis has a broken part and we've got to fix it. Now, come on!"

He stretched his hand out to Donna, his fingers twitching slightly as he waited for her to make her decision. She was staring deep into his eyes, her thoughts trying to make sense of what exactly he was thinking but she knew that there really was no other choice in the matter.

The Tardis was badly hurt and they were the only ones that could help her before it was too late. She reached up and threaded her fingers through his, her breath hitching as he carefully pulled her to her feet. "I'm going to expect a better explanation than that, Timeboy, but I know we don't have much time to sit around nattering about it. Let's go and you can explain on the way."

The Doctor pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and just grinned. "Of course, I will!" He twirled his sonic in his fingers before turning towards the corridor that led deeper into the Tardis.

"She can't shift her corridors to make it easier for us to get to her core, so we've got to do this the hard way. I'm going to need you to watch for those spheres so we can avoid them if at all possible. Are you going to be alright doing that?"

Donna nodded softly. "I'll be fine, Doctor. It seems that medicine has finally kicked in."

The Doctor frowned softly before setting out. "It just masks the symptoms of your injury but it doesn't heal the damage. So if you get dizzy or start to feel too much pain, make sure to let me know."

She just chuckled in reply. "Quite worrying, Doctor. I'll be extra careful!"

He took a moment to look deeply into her eyes in order to convince himself that moving her really was the only way to help the Tardis, his fingers tightened in her grasp for a brief moment before he murmured, "Allons-y!"

Hand in hand, they entered the darkened corridor to begin the long trek to the Tardis' core, both uncertain about what they might confront along the way.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Notes: Merry Christmas! My apologies for the delay in posting, this chapter has been done for a few weeks but I just moved into a new house and sort of lost BMG's notes in the shuffle. But I'm back now and hope to have more up again soon!_

* * *

" _Because a vision softly creeping…"_

The corridors of the Tardis were eerily dark as the Doctor led the way from the control room. He squinted first down one turn then another before he rummaged through his voluminous pockets in order to pull out two torches.

Donna took the torch that the Doctor handed to her, her gaze following his as they decided against going down any side corridors and continued down the corridor that they had originally entered.

She could feel the Doctor's mind brushing against hers from time to time, most likely trying to see what she was seeing, but not wishing to subject her to further strain. Donna was finding it hard to focus down the dimly lit corridors, and she couldn't tell if the shimmering she saw in her vision was due to the damage the Tardis had endured or if it was just another sign of her concussion.

"So how can you be sure that this multiphasic what's it is what's truly wrong with the Tardis, Doctor?"

Donna found that she couldn't stand the silence that filled the Tardis and so she felt a nearly overwhelming urge to fill the void with chatter. She was worried sick about the Tardis and could only imagine how terrified the ship must feel as she cowered within her panic room, unable to completely connect with her pilot other than to let him know that she was still alive.

The Doctor turned to look at Donna, his eyes not failing to notice the lines that were etching themselves around her eyes as she squinted down the corridor. He felt his hearts stutter for a moment as he thought of the terror he had felt when he couldn't rouse her after he had been knocked free of the temporal pocket. He had frantically scanned her with the sonic while his mind had reached out to hers in order to try to bring her to consciousness. He had feared the worst when he couldn't connect with her and it was only the beeping of the sonic that had informed him of the severity of her concussion that had finally allowed some of the blind panic to fade.

He really shouldn't have moved her at all. She should still be resting comfortably back in the control room while he made the repairs necessary to the ship, but as usual the universe wouldn't allow him to do what was right for her.

"When I was at the academy, we had many classes on Tardises and how they functioned."

"I thought you said you never listened to those classes and that you also never bothered to read the instruction manual." Donna looked at the Doctor with a smirk, her hand reaching out to brush lightly against his in a gesture meant to soothe the sting from her barb.

He shook his head with a rueful chuckle, his gaze turning back to the corridor for a long moment before he continued. "I did listen in class sometimes, Donna, as much as it may come as a surprise to you."

Donna smiled softly when she heard the defensiveness in his tone, the fact that he could care for the ship for as long as he had without any outside help was a testament to his affinity for his old girl.

"The Type 40 Tardises were more finicky than other models. I've already told you that they didn't always bond with every pilot and even when they did, they very rarely allowed other pilots to join the bond. The resulting strain on the primary pilot is one of the things that led to the design falling out of favor on Gallifrey."

They rounded a corner and Donna gasped as she grabbed on to the Doctor's hand to stop him in mid stride. Donna's eyes were huge as she tentatively reached a hand out to touch the darkly shimmering surface that was mere inches from her face.

The Doctor had stopped as soon as he heard Donna's gasp, but that didn't stop the hairs on his body from standing on end at the feeling of a large temporal field very near to him. "What do you see, Donna?"

She turned to look at him with fear filled eyes, her fingers hovering in front of her nose almost as if they were resting on something. She blinked several times before turning back to face the corridor before them, her entire body trembling when her fingers made contact with the surface of the sphere in front of her.

She cried out softly at the shock that raced down her arm and quickly snatched her arm away when the Doctor stepped close to catch her as she staggered back several steps. "We need to find another way to get to the core, Doctor. There's a huge sphere right in front of us blocking the entire corridor. It's not like the other ones though, this one is dark almost like it's filled with shadows. I didn't even see it before we were nearly on top of it."

The Doctor looked back down the corridor with a frown, his hand rising to scan the air in front of him before he grunted softly and pulled her back into the corridor that they had just exited. "Alright, Donna. This was the most direct route, but we'll find another way."

She hesitated for a moment more, her gaze outlining the strangely beautiful sphere in front of her before she yielded to the tug of the Doctor's hand and turned around so that they could find another path.

Donna looked at the Doctor, her eyes taking in the frown lines that were deepening on his forehead the further they progressed. His fingers were absently stroking the inside of her wrist, but his free hand was continually fiddling with the sonic as he swept it over the corridor in front of them. "Please tell me more about what's wrong with the Tardis. Is this something specific to the type 40, or were other models prone to failures like this?"

The Doctor jumped when he heard Donna's question, his distant gaze suddenly snapping back into focus as he was forcibly reminded about the present. "Sorry, Donna. I'm just trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary, I don't like how quiet the ship is, especially when I can't hear her in my mind."

Donna squeezed his hand tightly, the underlying concern in his voice was impossible to ignore. "We'll figure it out, Doctor. We'll get her back and then we can go on holiday somewhere that we can relax for a while."

He smiled at the image those words conjured, his hand squeezing hers tightly in return before he chose another corridor seemingly at random and guided her further into the bowels of the ship. "I'd like that, Donna! A stop in Cardiff first is a must though, the ship will definitely need to spend several days on the rift to finish the repairs and refuel herself."

Donna grinned, not at all surprised that the Doctor chose the rift in Cardiff over any other rift in the universe on which to park his injured ship. Whether he liked to admit it or not, he was coming to think of the band of misfits Jack called family as a family of his own.

"The instructors at the academy seemed to think that it was a problem unique to the Type 40, specifically type 40's that were older than a millennium. However, so few Type 40's survived for such a long time that it was really only conjecture at the time."

They continued to make their way down the corridor, the pressure of Donna's hand guiding the Doctor when they needed to press themselves tightly against walls as spheres would appear at random intervals along their path. The darker spheres were becoming more common the further into the Tardis they travelled, and they had to change their path several times because of the way being blocked.

"I didn't realize the Tardis was that much older than you, Doctor. I guess I always assumed that the both of you were similar in age since you've travelled together for so long." Donna shook her head slightly as she felt a wave of vertigo wash over her, the air in the corridor in front of her shimmered for a moment before she felt herself buffeted with an unfamiliar wave of energy.

"That's not good." The Doctor was frowning down a side corridor, his sonic held in front of him as he frantically scanned the space in front of him.

"What was that, Doctor?" Donna braced herself against a wall, her eyes clenched tightly closed as she fought to control the spinning of the corridor in front of her.

The Doctor looked back at Donna, his gaze intent as he took in the very real distress that was straining her features. "It was a wave of temporal energy, and it looks like there's more where that one came from."

There was a shuddering groan that echoed through the ship at the Doctor's words, the already dim lights flickered fitfully in response before they steadied once more. "What does that mean, Doctor?" Donna hated not knowing what was going on, but she should have been used to that sensation by now. She rarely knew what was going on, but the Doctor was usually better at sharing information with her.

She reached out to the Doctor, her fingers twining through his free hand to try to ground him in the here and now. "Doctor, please, you're really starting to frighten me. What does that mean?"

He shook his head, looking down at Donna and sighing softly as he pulled her into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry, Donna. I didn't mean to frighten you." He held her for a moment longer before he pulled away and pointed the sonic down the adjoining corridor once more. "The containment field around the temporal core is beginning to fail. As it fails, waves of temporal energy are escaping and ricocheting through the ship."

"Doctor, can you really fix what's wrong with the Tardis? This sounds a lot more serious than a simple part failing."

The Doctor nodded emphatically in response to Donna's question, his hand squeezing hers tightly before he led the way down once more. "I can fix this, Donna. This isn't just a simple parts failure though because the transducer is the brain of the Tardis and basically holds the ship's fabric of time and space together. It's the link between the temporal core and her consciousness and allows her to touch all 11 dimensions simultaneously."

Donna licked her lips as a thin line of perspiration had begun to form, the struggle of keeping her vision focused through the strange pulsing around her was beginning to exact a heavy toll. She wrapped her arms around herself when the Doctor pulled his hand away, his eyes darting from side to side as he tried to keep her as close to his side as possible.

"Doctor, you keep saying you're a little older than 900 years old, how old is the Tardis?"

The Doctor grinned softly at her question, his head ducking beneath a broken conduit that was lying across the top of the corridor before he responded. "She's quite a bit older than I am, Donna. I'd say at least by several centuries. The Type 40's were in use for nearly 500 years before a lot of their quirks really started to become serious issues. However, since they are time machines, many were in service much longer than the same relative time period on Gallifrey."

Donna gripped the Doctor's hand and tugged him to the left in order to avoid a small sphere that danced out of the walls beside them, her nails unconsciously digging into the flesh of his hand when it drifted between them and into the opposite wall.

The Doctor grunted softly at the grip of Donna's hand, his gaze dropping to hers for a moment before he squeezed her hand in reply. "We're getting close, Donna. As long as we can continue along the path we're following, we'll be there soon."

"I'm having a hard time focusing, Doctor. The air around me keeps getting fuzzy, I don't know if it's because of my concussion or if something else is wrong."

The Doctor stopped instantly at her words, his hands rose to grip her shoulders while he urged her eyes up to meet his gaze. "What do you mean by fuzzy, Donna?"

She winced at the pressure of his hands on her shoulders, her vision swimming momentarily when she felt his mind brush gently against hers in a bid for entrance. "It's almost like looking at the world through a heat haze, Doctor, but it seems to come and go without much warning."

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when he felt her barriers relax so that he could slip into her mind without resistance. He frowned when he felt the pain pounding at the inside of her temples, his touch feather light as he tried to shift some of the burden onto himself before drifting deeper into her mind. He blinked mental eyes open as he focused on Donna's vision, his head spinning as he once more tried to process the strange way in which she perceived time.

He let his gaze move along the corridor, spheres were drifting lazily across the corridor though none of them seemed to stay still for long. He saw several darker orbs floating up near the ceiling of the corridor, but they seemed to be stationary for the time being. There was a definite shimmer across Donna's vision though and as he watched, it seemed to grow in intensity before it faded away once more.

Donna was clutching the Doctor's hand, unwilling to admit that the presence of his thoughts in her mind was causing the pain in her head to swell in painful counterpoint. She whimpered softly when he pulled out of her mind, her eyes swimming with unshed tears when silence once more crashed through her thoughts. "I don't like this, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded softly, his hand rising to brush away the tear that had slid unbidden down her cheek. "I know, Donna, trust me I don't like it either but it's for the best until I can treat you properly in the medibay. You're doing brilliant, Donna, just hold on for a little bit longer."

Donna growled softly at herself, hating the feeling of helplessness that seemed to well up out of nowhere. "I'm made of stronger stuff than this, Doctor. Trust me, I can handle a little concussion."

The Doctor grinned at Donna, happy to see her spirit once more rise to the surface. He dropped his hand and turned back the way they had come, his gaze darting back to hers for a moment before he started back down the corridor. "That's my Donna!"

She stuck her tongue out at the Doctor, shaking her head with a laugh despite the pain that lanced through her temple when he merely arched a brow in response. "So how are you going to fix the… whatever it is that's broken, Doctor?"

"I'll have to essentially hotwire the connection so that we can get the Tardis out of the vortex. I can't actually replace the part while we're travelling, but once we materialize then it'll be a simple matter of exchanging the broken part for the new one and then letting her recharge for several days before we can be on our way again." He turned back to look at her, his hand reaching out to brush hers before he murmured. "That's why I'm going to need your help, Donna. This is part of the reason why the Tardises had a multi-person crew, well at least until the Time Lords perfected single pilot ships but even then, it was always recommended to have at least two pilots on any journey of any length."

"Doctor, you're babbling again."

The Doctor looked back at her with an indignant expression, his eyes widening when he saw the smirk on her face. "I beg your pardon, Donna, but I do NOT babble. I was merely explaining why I needed your help for this particular repair."

"Of course you were, Doctor."

Donna's bland retort left the Doctor's sputtering for a moment before he reached up to absentmindedly rub the back of his neck. "As I was saying, Donna, before you interrupted me, I'm going to need your help because I can't reactivate the transducer while I am also hotwiring the connection. That's why I need you outside of the temporal core while I make the repair, and so that you can throw the switch to reactivate the connection."

She nodded softly at the Doctor's words, but there was something in his voice that seemed to belie a deeper concern than merely splicing a few wires together and throwing a switch. "Doctor, what is it that you're not telling me? How dangerous is this repair going to be?"

He turned back to look at her, his eyes suddenly hooded as he merely grunted in reply. "It'll be fine, Donna."

Donna reached up to grab the Doctor's hand as he turned away, her mind reaching out to his with uncharacteristic strength when he tried to resist her probe. "Oh no you don't, Spaceman. What are you not telling me?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but Donna was distracted by movement down the corridor. Her eyes widened as she saw several spheres hurtling towards them at break neck speed, but it was the wave of energy behind them that had her shoving the Doctor to the side as she shouted, "Look out!"

The Doctor spun around as Donna shoved him out of the way, his skin suddenly exploding with waves of fire as a massive energy field suddenly bore down on the both of them. He reached out towards Donna with a frantic cry, his hand just brushed against hers before he felt the world go dark.

Donna threw her arms over her face when the wave crashed over the both of them and knocked the Doctor's hand completely out of her grasp. She screamed at the pain that exploded over her entire body, the sensation that burned over hyper sensitized nerves caused her to fall to the floor in spasms of agony.

She lay on the ground panting for several moments before she realized that the floor of the corridor had changed. She moved her hands as she waited for her vision to clear, hissing softly in surprise when she felt some sort of plant meet her questing fingers.

Donna sat up with a start, her hand flying to her head when dark spots suddenly swam across her vision. She shook her head and blinked her eyes several times before she finally believed what she was seeing.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…"

Overhead, twin suns burned in an orange sky and in the distance, she could just make out the shining dome that encased a gleaming city but it was the red grass and silver leafed trees that convinced her.

Somehow, she was now on Gallifrey.


	5. Chapter 5

" _Left its seeds while I was sleeping…"_

Donna remained crouched among the gently waving red grass, her fingers flexing involuntarily into the strangely firm ground beneath her. She knew that Gallifrey had been destroyed by the Doctor at the end of the Time War and there was no way that she could have actually travelled to the planet, but that didn't explain the vision around her.

She'd remembered how Gallifrey had looked in the Doctor's memories and this matched those memories perfectly, but it was the scents and sounds that were intoxicating on a completely different level. She could feel a strange hum through the ground, similar to the hum that she had always felt aboard the Tardis and it was that hum that finally convinced her that she was still somehow in the Tardis.

"This has to be a dream." Donna's hand rose to her temple as a pain suddenly lanced through her temple, she felt the world shift and tilt sideways before slowly righting itself. She was definitely in rough shape and the strange sensations floating through the air around her were not helping restore her shattered equilibrium.

Maybe that wave had knocked her unconscious and she was even now lying in the corridor while the world disintegrated around the both of them. With a panicked cry, she jumped to her feet and looked around for the Doctor.

She didn't see him anywhere, but in the distance, she saw two little boys laughing as they chased each other through the red grass.

She raised her hand to shade her eyes, squinting as she tried to discern who the little boys were and if there were any other people with them. She gasped when she recognized one of the little boys as he chased after his friend, her hand dropping to her mouth as she tried to stifle her shocked cry. The children drew closer to Donna and didn't notice her standing there until they were nearly on top of her.

Donna fought the tears that suddenly threatened when she looked down into the smaller child's gaze; his eyes were haunted, almost as if he had just seen the end of everything that he'd ever cared about but was still trying to forget that it had ever happened. She smiled tremulously down at both of them, though it was the shrewd gaze of the second child that sent chills down her spine.

"Who are you? You're not supposed to be here."

Donna grimaced when he addressed her, the imperious tone all too similar to the voice that still sometimes haunted her dreams. "Is that so? You're also not supposed to be out this far either, are you? Wouldn't your parents be angry at you for wandering so far?"

She could tell that her words had struck a barb with the second child, but before he could retort his companion spoke up. "It's alright, Koschei. I feel like I know her."

"But Theta, she's a human! You know humans aren't supposed to be on Gallifrey!"

Theta gazed at Donna with a strange look in his eyes, his head cocked as his gaze perused the air around her body. "I don't know if she is completely human, Kosch." His words were thoughtful as he let his senses sink into the timelines that flared so brightly around the woman in front of him. "Her timelines are too bright, but there's something else there."

Donna felt herself trapped in the younger Doctor's eyes, his gaze seemed to reach directly into her soul and for a split-second tug on the part that was bound to him. Theta gasped when he saw the answer swirl through her timeline but a quick glance at his friend showed only a bored interest that in no way belied the nature of the woman that stood in front of them. Theta found himself mesmerized by her timeline, he felt as if his own future were wrapped up in those gossamer strands and that he couldn't begin to imagine the heights to which they would travel.

"How did you get here? The elders will be very angry if they were to find you," Theta asked as he forced his eyes to meet her gaze.

Donna smiled softly as she looked at the world around her; the gentle whispering of the breeze through the red grass was a soothing balm to her tortured senses. "I don't quite know how I got here, Theta. One moment, I was travelling in a ship and then the next moment I was here."

Donna didn't go into detail about the ship that she had been travelling on or who she had been travelling with simply because she was uncertain as to what had happened. She still wasn't sure if this was all a dream or if somehow, she had travelled to a point in the past where she could meet this younger version of the Doctor and the Master.

She watched as Koschei quickly lost interest in the conversation, his scowl of disapproval was shocking on his near perfect face as he turned away and started savagely attacking the red grass with a branch that he had been carrying.

Theta watched his friend stomp away with a look of sadness, his hand fiddling with his pant leg before he turned to look back up at Donna. "You're going to be very important to me one day, aren't you?"

Donna bit her lip hard to keep from blurting out too much, just in case she was at a point in the Doctor's life when she could change things. Her vision swam as she looked down into his ageless eyes, the same eyes that even now nearly a millennium later could still see into the depths of her soul. She saw stars being born and dying in that eternal gaze but she also saw the haunting knowledge of his own people's destruction. He had understood enough of what he had seen to know that his people's downfall would one day come and that he would have a hand in that destruction.

She knelt in the grass at his feet, her hands clutched together so that she could try to better hide their trembling. He stood there patiently, his gaze wandering distractedly around her body from time to time as he tried to better read her timelines.

"I am, Theta, but it's not going to be for a long time to come. There's so much that you have to do before we meet, but when we do it will be fantastic."

He smiled at her words, his gaze darting to see just how far Koschei had wandered off before he stepped closer to her. He carried himself with all the power of a Time Lord even though the mantle had only just been placed about his shoulders. The sorrow seemed to fade from his eyes for just a moment before he reached up to brush a hand against her temple.

Donna gasped when she felt his thoughts press against her own barriers, her eyes flashing as she very quickly pulled away from his touch. "I can't allow you to look into my mind, Theta. You know that I can't let you see any more of what might be coming, although I think you have a pretty good idea already."

Theta's hand hovered near to her temple for a moment more as he read the intention in her eyes, his mind trying to read the lines of fate that were swirling chaotically around her body. He let his hand fall back to his side instead of forcing his way into her mind; his long fingers twitching for a moment before he nodded in response to her words. "I saw it in the untempered schism." He swallowed thickly before he looked up to see that Koschei had thrown himself to the ground and was laying in the grass staring up at the double suns as they hung low in the sky.

"I didn't tell Koschei what I saw, at least not all of it. He seemed different after the schism though, I don't quite understand how or why but we were both changed by what we saw in its depths."

Donna sighed softly when she heard his words, her hand reaching out to grasp his small hand in a reassuring grip. "I can only imagine how hard it must be for you right now, Theta. Everything is changing and you had an experience that very few Time Lords ever had with the untempered schism, but you need to live your life as free from outside influence as possible."

Theta started when he heard her words, his hand jerking out of Donna's grasp as he questioned. "How do you know about what happened at the schism? I told no one of what I saw there and I don't ever intend to let anyone know."

Donna smiled sadly at the defensive tone in his voice, her hand falling back to her side before she murmured. "You told me, Theta, many years in the future."

Theta stood there in shocked silence, his mouth working around words before he merely shook his head and sat down hard in the red grass. "I'm so confused right now. I know that my visions were not what Time Lords usually see when they stand before the untempered schism but I don't know why I was chosen to see such terrible things."

She could see the terror in his eyes, the burning question as to why he was so different from other Time Lords and why he had been chosen to see the destruction of his own people. He couldn't tell anyone what he had seen, though he knew that the guardians at least had some idea of the horrors that had been visited upon him.

"I don't have any answers for you, Theta. But I do know that you will get through it, and that you will be amazing every step of the way. You will make mistakes, but promise me that you won't give up no matter what happens. Promise me that you'll always remember what it means to care about others and that you'll always do your best to be a staunch protector of all those who have nothing."

The young Doctor looked at Donna with a strange expression on his face, his eyes growing distant as he felt her words echo through his soul like a prophecy. He had already been thinking on the name that he would take at the academy and this strange woman's words only seemed to reinforce that name. He licked his lips before he nodded in response to her request. "I promise that I'll always try my best to do what is right by people, but I can't promise that sometimes I won't be able to save everyone."

Donna smiled at his promise, her eyes sparkling when she heard the earnestness in his tone. Whether this was a dream or was in fact a window into the Doctor's past, Donna hoped that she had at least helped him come to terms with some of the horrors that he had glimpsed in the schism. Her own place in his life was something that she couldn't delve into with him as that might be enough to alter the future for him and thus ensure that their reality never came to pass, but at least she could help his younger self find some peace.

"No one ever expects you to save everyone, Theta. All we ask is that you do your best, that's more than enough."

The world seemed to shimmer for a moment around Theta, strange black waves of energy rippled through the air before the forms in front of her began to grow hazy. She could see the young Doctor's eyes look at her with far too much knowledge and sorrow, his hand reaching out to grasp hers tightly once more.

"Remember yourself, Donna Noble. Remember everything that you've been through and that you're not alone on your journey any longer either. We'll meet again, sooner than you think."

Donna jumped when she heard him speak her name, her eyes widening when she realized she had never spoken it. "How do you know my name?"

Theta looked off into the distance as the air around him continued to shimmer, his eyes falling onto Koschei's form as his friend has stood up from where he had been laying in the grass. The two friends stood staring at each other for a moment before Koschei and Theta both turned to look at her. "You're the most important woman throughout eternity. Of course, I would know your name."

The world tilted violently to the left and sent Donna sprawling in the red grass as Koschei walked towards the two of them. "The most important woman throughout eternity? I seriously find that hard to believe, but don't worry because one day I'll find you."

Donna forced herself to her feet, refusing to lay still beneath Koschei's calculating gaze. He had always felt superior to any and everyone around him, but she would be damned if she would grovel at his feet. "You're right, Koschei. One day, you'll find me but you won't have me for long because he will make sure that you will finally be finished."

Donna pointed towards Theta with a triumphant smile, her eyes locking with the younger Doctor's for a split second before the red grass began to fade away. The last look she had of Koschei and Theta was of the two of them in much older bodies, two blood enemies standing side by side for a single moment forever frozen in time before the golden world faded away once more.

" _Donna!"_

Donna gasped when she heard the Doctor's voice calling to her from a great distance, the anguish in his voice was enough to cause tears to spring to her eyes before she turned and began to run blindly towards that voice. "Doctor, I'm here! I'm right here!"

She ran through the darkness while the world seemed to splinter and disintegrate around her, her legs were burning and her head was spinning as waves of energy continued to buffet her body before she slammed headlong into the Doctor's arms.

"Donna! Oh gods, I was so worried when I couldn't find you. Are you okay? What happened to you?"

Donna cried out when she felt his arms tighten protectively around her body, her vision was swimming with tears when she noticed the red grass of Gallifrey had vanished to be replaced with the corridors of the Tardis. The Doctor's mind was painfully open to her and she was overwhelmed by the feelings of fear and concern that were pouring off him, but he had several new bruises across his face and a new large tear in his shirt. "I'm so happy to see you, Doctor. You're not going to believe what just happened, but I just saw Gallifrey."

The Doctor pulled back with a start, his eyes widening as he looked behind her before he turned back to her upturned face. His eyes were dark pools of worry and concern as his hand slid up into her hair, fingers sliding into the damp tresses as he tried to gauge the condition of her concussion.

"What do you mean you saw Gallifrey, Donna? Gallifrey is destroyed and her past is forever hidden behind the Time Lock."

Donna shook her head, instantly regretting the motion as the corridor began to spin in lazy circles around them both. She clung to the Doctor while she waited for the spinning to stop, her eyes clenched tightly closed while she struggled to put into words what had just happened.

"Not only did I see Gallifrey, Doctor but I saw you and the Master as well. What was that wave that hit us? How was it possible for me to see those things if they're stuck behind the Time Lock?"

The Doctor jerked at her words, his gaze darting to the corridor behind her before he looked back at her with grave concern. "That wave was a temporal energy wave that escaped the core and raced through the ship, but it shouldn't have created a whole new world for you. It should've just trapped you in a bubble of time until the field dissipated."

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully as he gently disentangled her from his arms and led her to sit down against the wall of the corridor for a few moments while he examined her for any further injuries. "Why don't you tell me everything that happened, Donna. I need to know what you heard and saw and try not to leave out any details."

Donna held on to his hand for a moment, her eyes panicked as she pleaded with him for understanding. "I'm not going crazy, Doctor. I know that I saw the both of you, but you were both so very young."

The Doctor gripped Donna's hand tightly for a moment more before he reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver. "I don't think you're going crazy, Donna, but I think I can figure out what happened if you just tell me everything you experienced. I was trapped in a similar bubble but I didn't have any visions while in that bubble, I was just floating in a strange, dreamless state that I couldn't seem to break free from. However, with what you're telling me, then it makes sense that I couldn't find you right away when I first managed to fight free from my prison."

He brushed the hair away from her temple in a motion surprisingly like that of his younger self, his mind touching hers gently as he let himself experience her memories first hand.

Donna leaned back against the wall of the Tardis, her mind drifting back to when the wave had first overtaken her before she began to speak.

The Doctor examined her thoroughly as she spoke, but it was the memories in her mind that gave him the first clue to the puzzle. "You mentioned that you had felt a hum through the air, much like you feel when you're aboard the Tardis?"

Donna nodded tiredly, her hands falling into her lap as she let her eyes slide closed for a blessed moment of relief from the chaos that surrounded them. "I do, Doctor. I also remember thinking that the ground felt too firm to be simple earth and soil."

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully as he finished examining her, his hand slipping the sonic back into his pocket before he reached behind him for a water bottle. Where he'd managed to find a water bottle while searching for her and breaking free of his own bubble of time was anyone's guess, but Donna knew better than to ask the Doctor such a silly question.

He cracked the seal on the bottle and handed it to Donna, before he took a drink from another bottle that he had kept for himself. "The Tardis is tied to all eleven dimensions, but her memories of her adventures and indeed many of my memories and travels are also kept in living circuits throughout the ship. I think that when her consciousness was forcibly severed from her matrix, the resulting void caused her memories to escape into the ship itself."

He frowned into the distance as his skin continued to crawl with the temporal energy that was raging around them. The touch of the Tardis was growing more distant as she remained separated from her matrix for longer than she ever had been before, and the Doctor was beginning to worry that they wouldn't be able to reverse the damage in time. He couldn't move Donna too quickly either though as it was obvious her equilibrium was completely shattered with everything that her body had just endured.

"You're saying I was inside of a memory?"

The Doctor smiled at Donna's question though the analogy did fit with what the hypothesis that he was formulating. "Something like that, Donna. Or the memory gave the event focus in a way. The fact that you saw both myself and Koschei at a younger age makes me think that there was something of myself in that memory as well that lent shape to the experience. I have no memory of ever seeing you when I was eight years old, and thus can only conclude that this was an isolated experience that didn't actually touch on timelines nearly a thousand years old."

Donna sighed when she heard the Doctor's words, a part of her thankful that he felt that she hadn't tampered with his past self as well as the fact that the Master most likely hadn't known of her existence from that time. It truly seemed to be an isolated incident that was only connected with the damage to the Tardis that seemed to be growing more severe by the minute.

"I'm glad I didn't do any permanent damage, Doctor."

The Doctor leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss across her trembling lips. "Are you sure that you're okay, Donna? The Master really seemed to shake you."

Donna sighed softly but couldn't help returning the kiss with a soft groan of frustration. "I'm as okay as I can be at the moment, Doctor. It's not every day that I come face to face with the man who tortured me for days on end, but now that I know it was really only something like a dream than I will be fine with time. Don't be upset if I have nightmares in the near future though."

The Doctor's lips quirked with a lopsided smile, his hand brushing the hair off her brow before he responded. "I won't be angry with you, Donna. In fact, I'd be surprised if you didn't have any effects from what you just experienced."

She nodded resolutely before pushing away from the wall and rising to unsteady feet, her hand resting against the wall of the Tardis as she blinked her eyes clear. The corridor ahead of them was still littered with spheres in all shapes and sizes, but there seemed to be no other way forward.

The Doctor watched her intently as she swayed on her feet, his hands ready to catch her should she fall but he otherwise didn't interfere with her movements.

Time was running out for the Tardis and as much as he wanted to delay until Donna was more steady on her feet, he knew that they couldn't wait much longer.

"Are you feeling up to continuing, Donna?"

She looked back at him with a soft growl of disgust, her eyes were dull with pain but her smile was determined. "I don't have much of a choice do I, Doctor? Not if we're going to save the Tardis before it's too late."

He could only nod bleakly in response to her words. "I'm sorry, Donna."

Donna barely spared him a glance as she pushed away from the wall and began to make her way down the corridor. "Stop apologizing, Spaceman. We've got too much work to do."

The Doctor shut his mouth with a softly muffled chuckle, his hand reaching for the sonic once more so that he could scan the corridor in front of them.

Together they began to make their way deeper into the bowels of the ship; while inside the Doctor's mind, the Tardis began to softly weep.


	6. Chapter 6

" _And the vision that was planted in my brain..."_

The corridors began to slowly change around them as they made their way towards the center of the Tardis, the long walls gradually giving way to large open spaces and catwalks that crisscrossed over yawning chasms beneath.

Donna had always known, in a sort of abstract way, that the Tardis was immense but she had never imagined just how massive the ship truly could be. The Doctor was leading the way now, as they entered parts of the ship that Donna had never visited and they had had to turn back several times as the catwalks in front of them had collapsed into the emptiness below.

"Doctor, you never explained to me why I would see the both of you at that specific time in your lives. It's strange that after you had so recently told me about the visions that you had experienced at the untempered schism, I would then be sucked into a memory that touched on that specific event."

The Doctor looked back at Donna, his smile was faint and tinged with the pain that he was struggling with as well from his own injuries. His gaze wandered through the aura around her body for a moment, reminding her with a jolt of his younger self and how that man child had seen so much in so little time.

He pursed his lips, trying to think of the right words to say before he just blew his breath out in a frustrated sigh. "I honestly don't know why, Donna. I have no memory from the academy of anyone having ever actually been inside a Tardis when a transducer failed, so I don't know what could be expected or even what might be normal. The fact that you saw both the Master and myself makes me think that you had more control over that event then you realize and that your own recent memories were able to guide the memory that formed in your bubble of time."

Donna cocked her head as she thought about his words, her hand was trembling as it moved along the railing beside them. It was getting harder for Donna to focus as they went further into the bowels of the ship, she could hear a faint weeping in her mind from time to time as well as the Doctor's voice gently whispering in Gallifreyan before the sensation would fade.

The change in the landscape around them also meant that the behavior of the spheres changed and they had to stop several times as they waited for a sphere or two to drift across their path before they could continue. She could see spheres all around them, both light and dark spheres that seemed to be quivering in the strangely warm air and the Doctor would pause to join his mind with hers from time to time before he would pull away with a grim frown and press them forward.

Something the Doctor said though stuck out to her as she clambered over yet another pile of debris, her gaze rising to catch the flash of pain on the Doctor's face as he saw the damage that had been inflicted on his beloved ship. She reached up to him, breath hissing as a stab of pain ripped through her temples, but that didn't stop her from turning his bruised cheek towards her. "Hey, we're going to fix her, Spaceman. Don't start losing hope now."

The Doctor paused mid stride at the touch of her hand, his eyes locking with hers so that she could catch the faint shimmer of tears before he resolutely blinked them away. "I'm worried, Donna. I can feel the Tardis fading in my mind, I'm worried that we're not going to be able to fix her in time."

Donna paused to lean against the railing for a moment, her eyes closing for a brief, blessed moment in which she listened to the soft weeping that had once more thrust itself to the forefront of her thoughts. "You say she's fading from your mind, Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded distractedly, his eyes moving restlessly over the cavernous space around them to try to find the quickest way to the temporal core. "Yes, she's fading away and has been for a while now."

"Maybe she's fading from your mind, because she's managed to find mine?"

The Doctor's gaze jerked back to Donna, his mouth opening wide before a huge smile suddenly blossomed on his face. "You can hear her now?"

Donna nodded softly, her own eyes filling with tears when she realized that they were getting closer to the consciousness of the Tardis. "I can, Doctor. It's only been for a little while though and it's not a constant connection, but I can hear her crying and I can hear you as well trying to comfort her."

The Doctor sagged against the railing for a moment, his hand rising to scrub the fear from his face before he leaned forward and pulled her close in a tight embrace. The Doctor cried out as his forgotten ribs screamed in protest against the tight embrace, and he could tell from the sharp feeling of rebuke in his mind, that Donna wasn't going to let him live it down.

"You're not invincible, Spaceman. Just remember that when we do whatever it is we need to do in order to get the Tardis back to normal."

The Doctor pulled back with a muffled laugh, his hand holding tightly to hers before he pulled away and led the way along the walkway once more. "I know I'm not, Donna. I've just never felt my years as much as I am at this moment."

"Maybe I could find you a cane somewhere in this mess?"

"Oi! Watch it, Earthgirl!" the Doctor retorted, his eyes were laughing though as he murmured. "I'm just glad that the Tardis isn't as far away as I had begun to fear she was, it's the first bit of good news we've had in awhile that's for certain!"

Donna laughed at the disgruntled retort from the Doctor, her mind drifting back to the conversation that they had just been sharing and the thought that had suddenly struck her as odd. "You'd said that my recent memories were able to guide the formation of that bubble, Doctor. How is that even possible when you weren't able to do the same thing? You were in a dreamless state while I experienced a completely different reality."

The Doctor frowned as he scanned the walkways ahead of them, his hand reaching out to halt her progress when he scanned several spheres drifting towards their path though Donna was already well aware of their approach. He was distracted by the readings from the sonic and the waves of energy that seemed to be building in the temporal core. He didn't know if the ship would survive another burst like the last one that they had experienced but he also knew that they couldn't move any faster, not without the risk of becoming trapped in another sphere and losing all chances of saving the Tardis and themselves.

He didn't like the readings he was getting from Donna either, he could tell that she was struggling and the constant influx of temporal energy was not giving her any chance to gather her wits. If they managed to make it out of this, then he promised himself that he would take her on a much-needed getaway to anywhere she wanted to go.

"You keep forgetting that you have more control over time and energy now than you ever had before. You're no longer completely human and it is those differences that most likely allowed you to exert some control over the reality that formed around you."

"But was it a memory or something else, Doctor?" Donna hated asking all these questions but she was still struggling to make sense of what had happened and why she had seen such a specific time in the Doctor's life. Her vision continued to swim as a crippling sense of vertigo seemed to wash over her, causing her to momentarily lose her footing and stumble against the railing beside her.

The Doctor looked back at Donna just as she staggered hard into the railing beside them, her hands flying to her head and her body teetering towards a fall. "Donna? Donna, be careful!" He leaped forward to catch her as she staggered, her wild gaze rising to meet his as she struggled to find a focus through the sudden chaos in her mind.

She felt like she was looking at the Doctor through a long tunnel, his voice seeming to come from so very far away before she lost her grip on consciousness and slid through the Doctor's embrace and into a boneless heap on the floor.

"No, no, no! Donna, come on you can do this."

The Doctor was frantic as he felt her mind slipping away from his, the strain on her brain of having to deal with not only a very significant head injury but also the total sensory overload from the ship around them was finally too much for her. He should've known that she would need to rest, especially after her recent experience in the time bubble, but he had been too focused on trying to keep them moving before he lost contact with the Tardis forever.

Donna's complexion had gone completely ashen, and her eyes were huge sunken pools in her face as the blue-green orbs stared sightless over the Doctor's shoulder. He hated how everything that was _Donna_ just seemed to be missing from that empty stare.

"I need you to come back to me, Donna. Please just focus on the sound of my voice and come back to me."

He thrust the sonic into his pocket, one of the only pockets that still seemed to be intact in his tattered suit before he rummaged deeper into his pocket for the case that held the loaded syringes of medication that he had managed to find earlier. He hadn't wanted to give Donna another dose of the medication unless it was absolutely necessary, but now he was out of options and so with a growl of pure frustration he slid the syringe into her vein and pushed the plunger down.

"I'm so sorry, Donna. I'm sorry for having to force you through this and wish that I could fix the Tardis myself while you healed, but I need your help." He threw the syringe over the edge of the walkway, knowing that when the Tardis repaired herself it would be absorbed into her systems once more. He tried to reach out to Donna, unable to control his fear when he could barely feel her presence in his mind.

He'd been too cautious in touching Donna's mind for fear of inflicting even more pain and damage on her brain, but now he couldn't even make a connection through the haze that seemed to be growing thicker between them.

"Oh no you don't, Donna. I'm not letting you go, do you hear me?" He wasn't aware of the tears that had begun to stream down his cheeks at the silence that greeted his words, even the Tardis had gone quiet in his mind while he frantically scrabbled at the empty space that suddenly yawned within.

The Doctor lowered his head, letting his forehead rest against Donna's flushed brow as he struggled to bring his panicking thoughts back under control. Yes, he had pushed Donna hard, but something else had to have happened to suddenly overload her mind in this way.

He'd been monitoring her condition with the sonic while he had been scanning the way ahead of him and though she had shown she was declining, she shouldn't have crashed in such a dramatic manner.

 _Come on, Doctor, think!_ he angrily thought to himself.

He felt a faint glimmer deep within his mind and instantly pounced on the sensation, his arms loosening themselves from around Donna's body as he let his hands rise to rest against her temples.

He let the world fall away from him as he thrust himself fully into her mind, he held nothing back in his push to find the spark of her essence, drawing on every thread of their bonded souls to guide him to her presence.

He thought he could feel the Tardis with him for a split moment before the sensation faded away, but he would not be deterred as he pushed deeper into her mind. He wasn't going to lose her to the darkness, not like this and certainly not without one hell of a fight.

He gathered his flagging strength about his mind, forging his seeking presence into a white hot light of power that simply obliterated any shadows in her mind. He was the Oncoming Storm and he would NOT fail.

The Doctor slumped against Donna's as his essence retreated from his body into hers, but he was completely oblivious to the motion as his soul chased that flicker that seemed to be fading further away.

 _Donna, come back to me._ The Doctor's calls seemed to echo endlessly through the void, but the glimmer seemed to pause at the sound of his voice. The faint shimmer in the golden light was all the answer he needed as his essence reached out and wrapped itself around Donna's frightened spirit.

 _I need you, Donna, I need you more than you can possibly know. Come back with me, please._

He could feel Donna's confusion as she had fallen so deeply into herself in such a short amount of time, she hadn't even realized she was balancing on the edge of such an abyss until she had fallen over it. Once she fell, she hadn't known how to arrest her descent.

He could feel Donna reaching out to him, her spirit opening and allowing itself to be enfolded completely in the heat of his mind. _I'm so scared, Doctor. I don't know where I am, help me please!_

The Doctor paused when he heard the fear in her thoughts, his own mind shuddering against the wave of terror that beat against him. In that moment, he drew on the strength of their combined souls to gently pull her out of the darkness and back into the light.

 _Follow me, Donna. I'll show you the way, and I promise I won't ever let you go._

Donna rose with him through the hazy layers of consciousness, her mind cowering within the protective embrace of his thoughts as the never-ending pain in her body exploded through her awareness once more. _I'm so tired, Doctor. I just want to rest for a while so that it will stop hurting._

The Doctor felt his distant hearts clench in fear at her words, the adrenaline spiking in his system as his spirit suddenly re-entered his body with a sharp jolt. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, body sagging in relief when he saw that life had returned to her gaze.

"You'll be able to sleep soon, Donna, I promise that you'll be able to sleep for however long you want to. Can you hold on for a little longer? The core is just a few levels away, we're almost there and then we can finally get the Tardis back."

Donna blinked slowly up at him, her mind swimming through the layers of pain and medication that were racing through her system, but she felt the Doctor's mind still firmly enmeshed in her own as he helped her shoulder some of the pain that never seemed to end. He was not surprised that she had managed to hide the extent of her pain from him, and he should've known that she had been in rougher shape than she had let on. In trying to protect her, he had unwittingly let her suffer needlessly.

Donna's tongue darted out to moisten bone dry lips, her thoughts finally beginning to settle as the medication began to dull the incessant throb in her temples. "I just need a minute, Doctor. If I try to move right now, I'm afraid I'm going to be sick."

The Doctor nodded and settled on the catwalk next to her, his arms opening to pull her into his embrace as he tucked her head under his chin. "You take all the time you need, Donna. We won't move a minute before then."

Donna sighed softly and just rested against the Doctor, her hand reaching up to stroke gently along the angry bruise that covered most of his chest. They sat listening to the disjointed thoughts of the Tardis as she struggled to maintain her connection with them. It had taken a lot of her flagging energy to find and connect with Donna, and now that energy was fading fast.

"What just happened to me, Doctor? I felt like I was falling into a black hole and I couldn't find any way to stop myself from falling?" Donna shuddered against the Doctor as she remembered the terrifying cold of the place she had fallen into, the shadows that had pressed in on all sides until she feared she would be consumed by the blackness.

The Doctor took a breath, wincing at the pain that stabbed through his chest with the motion, before he let his head fall back against the railing. "I'm not entirely certain what happened, Donna. It felt like your mind was separating from your body for some reason and you'd lost the ability to come back on your own."

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to let the feelings of terror rise to consume him once again as he realized just how close he had come to losing her in those moments. "I don't know why it would happen now so suddenly, other than the fact that you're nearing the limits of what your body can physically handle and your connection to your mind is weakening." He paused as he thought about his own words, his mind racing when he suddenly felt a connection with the events that were transpiring around them. "Perhaps it was because of your renewed connection with the Tardis that the link is beginning to weaken, your mind might be trying to join with her presence wherever it's hiding at this moment."

Donna could tell that the Doctor didn't like not knowing what had happened to her, his thoughts were racing in a million directions faster than her own clouded mind could follow. She could feel the very real fear that still seemed to be clawing at his senses, overriding nearly every other thought until the fear itself was the only thing on which he could focus.

"Hey, Spaceman, I'm here now. You found me. I'm okay, aren't I?"

The Doctor shifted so that he could look down at her, the depths of his eyes were blazing with the fire and purpose that she had long since come to associate with the Oncoming Storm. He was resolute and completely focused on a single goal, and it humbled her to realize that she was the focus of that terrifying power. "You're safe now because I won't let it be any other way, Donna. I've anchored your mind inside my own right now, and nothing short of death will be able to take you from me until I let you go. I'm not going to let you fall away from me again, not if I can stop it. And trust me, I most certainly can."

Donna swallowed convulsively at his words, her mind quivering within the embrace of his own terrifyingly powerful thoughts. She felt the conviction in his words and also felt the difference in their connection as well. Though they were bound nearly as one being, it was in this moment that she realized he had bound them in a way that they had never been bound before. They truly were one being, and what happened to one of them would happen to the other as well until he allowed the merging to dissipate into its normal state.

She looked deep into his eyes, her mind working through everything he had said in the last few hours and she finally asked the question that she had been dreading. "Is the Tardis dying?"

She was fascinated when the hood fell over his eyes, though he couldn't hide the burst of fear and uncertainty at her words. "She's going to be fine once we're able to repair the damage that has…"

Donna growled and reached up to press a finger to his lips. "Don't evade the bloody question, Doctor, just give me a straight answer."

The Doctor sighed softly before he nodded. "Yes, Donna. The Tardis is dying, she's actually very near death right now and you would have died as well if I hadn't brought you back."

She gasped at his words, her body trembling as it melted back against his chest for a moment's respite from the adrenaline that suddenly seemed to pound through her system. She hadn't realized just how serious the situation had been for either of them, and she now knew for certain that the stakes had never been higher.

Donna knew that she couldn't rest for long though, because they all were very quickly running out of time.


	7. Chapter 7

" _Still remains…"_

The Doctor and Donna rested for about twenty minutes before they felt the pressing need to get moving once more. The feel of the ship had begun to subtly change around them and the Doctor knew that they couldn't delay much longer.

They didn't speak much as they made their way towards the lower levels where the entrance to the temporal core could be found. The Doctor had to lower Donna a few times from an upper level as the stairs leading from one level to the next had collapsed into the darkness below.

She could feel the pain slicing through the Doctor's body every time he gently lowered her to a walkway below, but he pushed resolutely onward through pain that would have been completely debilitating in any other person.

Donna paused for a moment as the Doctor carefully dropped down onto the walkway behind her, her eyes darting frantically around the space in front of them before she turned back to look at the Doctor as he walked towards her.

"It's getting worse, Doctor. I don't know how we're going to be able to make it much further through this mess."

The Doctor frowned slightly, his eyes sliding closed as he let himself focus fully on the sensations that were assaulting Donna's senses. He hadn't left her mind for an instant since she had collapsed several levels above, but he still needed to focus on her perceptions when he wanted to see as she did.

He braced himself as he opened his mental eyes, his mind momentarily overwhelmed with the pain of not only Donna's injuries but the never-ending assault of temporal energy along frayed nerves. The space in front of them was conspicuously free of spheres, and as much as he was grateful that they wouldn't be needing to dodge the things closer to the core, it was the shimmering in the air that caused a steady dread to build.

It looked almost as if they were standing on the edge of some vast sea and the tide was rapidly rising around them. The Doctor had sensed the pulsing of temporal waves against his skin, but he hadn't realized that the field had been quite this large. It looked like the wave was emanating from the temporal core that was now just one deck below them, and it flowed outward in a continuous tide that was building into an energy wave that would destroy the ship once it reached its peak.

The Doctor took a deep breath and pulled his awareness back into his own body, his gaze turning down to find Donna looking up at him expectantly. "We're almost there, Donna. It looks like the spheres have been pushed away from the core by the energy wave that's building, which should make the rest of our journey a little less perilous but no less urgent."

Donna's hands tightened along the railing for a moment, her thoughts turning inward to the space that the Tardis had just so recently occupied which had ominously gone quiet. She could feel a sense of expectancy from the space though, almost as if the Tardis were holding her breath while she waited for their next step. "I can't hear her anymore, Doctor. Are we already too late?"

The Doctor shook his head as he reached out for her hand, his fingers twining with hers before he pulled her away from the precipitous drop below. "She's still there, Donna, but it feels like she's conserving her strength. She's very weak right now and we're nearly out of time. Now I need you to listen to me very carefully. Things need to be done in precise order and we will not have another chance to get this right. Do you promise to follow my exact instructions and not do anything unless I instruct you otherwise?"

Donna froze when she heard the implacable command in his voice, her hand tightening briefly while her mind tried to sift through his thoughts. He was resolute and didn't shy away from her exploration, but he also didn't guide her search. He would not coax her in any particular direction, and merely waited for her to find her answers before she responded to him. "What's going to happen, Doctor?"

He shook his head, his eyes blazing down into hers before he repeated. "I need you to promise me, Donna or we won't take another step on this walkway."

Donna scoffed at his words, her incredulous gaze darting around the cavernous space beyond them before she retorted. "You said the ship would destroy itself if we didn't fix things, Doctor, you can't be serious."

The Doctor didn't move, his hand tightened around hers before he bit out. "I'm completely serious, Donna. Give me your word."

She was getting upset at the tone in his voice, her mind was snapping within his but she could tell that he wouldn't move another step further until she responded. She knew now that the moment was at hand for him to reveal to her just how dangerous this repair was going to be and she also could tell that he was terrified she would put herself in danger to save him should the need arise. "Why don't you tell me what I'm promising first, Doctor?"

He said nothing, simply stood there watching her while his thoughts remained completely calm and placid within her own. He would not nudge her in any direction and so he waited, with all the serenity that Time Lords were renowned for until Donna finally muttered, "Alright, Doctor. I promise that I will do exactly as you say, no matter what might happen."

She could feel the relief that burst within him, his hand tightening on hers for a moment before he pulled her into motion once more. "I'm going to have to go into the temporal core in order to make this repair, but the core itself is unstable and so it's very dangerous right now."

Donna was listening intently to the Doctor even as she fought for every step forward, her legs felt like they were moving through molasses as the waves of energy continued to buffet the both of them. The containment field had nearly collapsed and so the unfettered energy of the vortex was pouring into the ship and accelerating the damage that was even now in danger of tearing the Tardis to pieces.

"The Eye of Harmony is usually contained within its own energy field, but from the readings I'm getting off the sonic and your own unique perceptions, it looks like that field has failed completely. What would normally be a matter of simply changing a part is now going to be much more difficult."

He paused as they came to a solid wall, the walkway beneath them trembled slightly as it had fallen away from the walkway above and was hanging completely unsupported. The Doctor sighed when he looked up at the dark opening above them, his lips pursed as he carefully walked over to the edge of the walkway before turning back and making his way to her side.

"I seem to have made a wrong turn, or a right turn depending on how you look at it."

Donna scowled softly at the Doctor's words, her gaze following his up towards the dark opening above them before she muttered. "What are you talking about, Doctor? Do we have to go back, because I don't know how much farther I can continue?" She hated admitting to any weakness, but she knew that the Doctor could already tell how tired she was and how even now it was hard for her to maintain her connection with her body. If it hadn't been for the indomitable will of the Doctor's mind anchoring hers, she was afraid she would have drifted off into the darkness a long while ago and would never have found her way back.

The Doctor turned back to look at her, his gaze softening for the briefest of moments before his hand rose to brush a straggly strand of hair from her forehead. "We're here, Donna. I'd thought we had another deck to go, but it looks like I was mistaken. That doorway up there is the entrance to the temporal core, but I'm going to need to lift you up to it. Do you think you're up to climbing the last little bit? I'll be right behind you."

Donna's eyes slid closed when she felt the brush of his fingers over her face, her breath catching for a brief moment at the feeling of bone numbing exhaustion that nearly drove her to her knees. She took a deep breath before she licked her lips and opened her eyes, finding the Doctor looking down at her with a troubled expression when he had felt the exhaustion wash over her. "I'll be just fine, Doctor. Are you going to be alright lifting me up? You're not exactly in the best shape either."

The Doctor nodded softly, his hand gripping hers tightly before he turned them both to face the wall in front of them. "I've got plenty of fight left in me, Donna, don't you worry. Now, on three."

Donna braced her hands against the wall as she felt the Doctor wrap his hands around her hips, his voice low as he counted down. "One." She could feel the tightening of his hands for a brief moment before he whispered, "Two."

One final, deep breath to brace himself against the pain from his ribs before he grunted, "Three."

Donna pushed off the walkway as he lifted her up towards the opening above them, her mind whiting out for a moment at the wave of agony that blasted through her mind from the Doctor's body. His hands shifted under her bum and with a final heave, she was able to crawl into the opening and land in an inelegant sprawl on the floor of a short corridor that ended in a large door.

She rolled over onto her stomach just as the Doctor jumped up to grab a hold of a portion of the walkway that was hanging below the opening and using that as leverage, he then pulled himself up the rest of the way.

He leaned back against the wall behind him, his eyes clenched closed around a soft cry of pain as he crossed his arm protectively across his chest. Donna scrambled to her knees, her hands reaching out to gently move the Doctor's arm out of the way. "Are you sure you're up to this, Doctor? Is there anything I can do to help with the pain?"

The Doctor looked up at Donna with a weary smile, his breath hitching at the feather light caress of Donna's fingers over his bruised body. "I've got to have all my wits about me, Donna. Once this is done, then we'll both be able to rest and properly heal."

She looked unconvinced as she continued to fuss over him, her mind repeatedly nudging his in an attempt to help him shoulder some of the pain. He resolutely blocked the worst of the pain from her though, fearful that any more pain would completely overwhelm her already taxed system. He'd dealt with worse pain in the past, besides it was nothing compared to what he was going to be subjected to in the next few moments.

"I'm going to need your help to throw the switch that should hopefully reset the containment field and bring the transducer back into temporal alignment. I'm essentially going to be hot wiring the old connection so that we can get the Tardis under control and exit the vortex at which point, I'll then be able to swap the damaged part for a new component. It won't be an exact fit, but it's the closest thing I have available and should work in a similar fashion."

Donna frowned at the uncertainty in the Doctor's voice, his hand was fiddling inside his one remaining pocket and he was looking everywhere but at her. "It should work, Doctor? Are you not certain about this repair?"

The Doctor sighed and pushed himself to his feet, grimacing slightly before he reached down to pull Donna up with him. "I'm as certain as I can be, Donna. This has never happened before, at least not that I remember and so I'm only going on assumption and hope."

Donna could tell that the Doctor didn't like not having all the answers, especially when the stakes were so high, but he would do everything in his power to make sure that they had the best chance possible to survive. "I understand, Doctor. What do you need me to do?"

He led the way to a large door at the end of the corridor, similar in design to the doors one would see on a ship at sea with a large round portal set into it at eye level. There was a pulsing orange glow emanating from within the circle, the angry color seemed to be throbbing like a gigantic heartbeat and it was from that orange glow that Donna could see strident lines of energy racing out in all directions.

She held her hand up to the glass, her eyes squinting as she tried to see beyond the coruscating lines of force and into the chamber beyond. "Is that it, Doctor?"

The Doctor came up beside her, his hand rising to twine gently with hers before he nodded softly. "Yes, Donna. The Eye of Harmony is on the other side of this door."

His hand was trembling in Donna's grasp and she could feel the pounding of his twin hearts as he braced himself to enter that chamber of fire. Donna clutched his hand tightly, her mind threading itself deeper into his thoughts for a brief moment before she felt him take a deep breath and turn to look at the wall behind her. "The door offers some protection and the energy from the Eye shouldn't immediately harm you, but once I'm in that chamber you won't be able to help me until we're out of the vortex and the energy has dissipated."

Donna gasped when she heard the Doctor's words, her eyes darting back to the sullen orange glow before she blurted out, "What do you mean, I won't be able to get you? What if you're injured? What if you need my help?"

The Doctor stepped away from Donna, his hands deftly popping two panels off the wall before he slid open a compartment and very carefully pulled a control panel from the interior of the wall. A large lever was set in the middle of the panel with a series of lights set in a circular pattern around it, though the lights were for the moment dark.

He looked back to Donna with the same implacable expression that he had worn just a short time ago, his mind snapping almost painfully within hers before he reminded her, "You promised that you would do exactly as I instructed, Donna."

She bit back an angry retort, her eyes blazing up at him for extracting such a promise from her without letting her know the particulars of that promise. "You never told me that I might have to watch you die, Timeboy!"

The Doctor winced at her angry rejoinder, his body turning so that he could grab her shoulders and gently pull her closer to him. "Would you have promised if you had known, Donna?"

Donna growled softly up at him even as tears spilled down her cheeks, her hand rising to cup his bruised cheek before she muttered, "I wouldn't have had a choice, would I, Doctor?"

He shook his head softly, his hands tightening on her shoulders before he pulled her close for a last, lingering embrace. "I'm so sorry, Donna. I'm so very, very sorry but no, you wouldn't have had any choice in the matter."

She clung to him, her body shaking as she realized that she might very well be saying her final goodbye to him and she desperately didn't want to let him go. "I'm scared, Doctor."

He rocked her gently, his eyes slipping closed as he bent his head and placed a reverent kiss on the crown of her head. "I know, Donna, trust me, I know."

They stood wrapped in each other's embrace for a moment longer, before he pulled back and directed her attention to the lever beside them. "When I complete the connection, the lights around this lever should start to blink in sequence. They will start out a red color and will cycle through to blue when the cycle has completed itself and the system is ready to be initialized. I need you to throw this switch when the last light on the right has turned to blue. Have you got that?"

Donna looked to the lever, following the motion of his hand as he indicated the direction that the lights would illuminate before she nodded. "Yes, Doctor. I'm ready."

He took a final, deep breath and leaned down to claim her lips in a bone searing kiss; everything that he couldn't say poured from his mind into hers and she could tell that he was saying goodbye in the only way he knew how.

When he pulled away, Donna held tightly to his hand for a moment more. "Come back to me, Spaceman."

He turned to look at her with a soft smile, his hand brushing across her cheek one last time before he whispered, "I have every intention of coming back, Donna."

The Doctor then threw the lever and carefully pulled the door open, shielding himself behind the door as a blast of orange energy burst through the opened portal. Donna cried out when she saw the fiery energy blaze out of the doorway before the Doctor stepped around the door and into the chamber slamming the door quickly closed behind him. The ominous clang of metal on metal spurred Donna into motion and she threw herself towards the portal just as the handle turned and locked into place.

She pressed her face against the portal where she could just make out the Doctor's form as he walked across a catwalk towards a panel that looked to be set into a wall several meters into the chamber. "Doctor!"

She knew that he couldn't hear her through the glass, nevertheless he turned towards the portal and smiled one last time before he closed his mind to her completely. She stumbled when she felt the connection between them dim, though he didn't let go of the hold that he had on her mind. Even though she had felt a flash of agony from him before he had closed their connection, he hadn't completely let go of his hold on her thoughts and so she remained anchored in her body even as the rest of his mind had gone blank.

The Doctor knelt before the panel, his hand rising to undo the large bolt that held it in place before he pulled it open and set the large covering aside. He was gritting his teeth as his body seemed to be flayed by the energy that was pouring off the unfettered Eye of Harmony, it felt like his skin should be seared from his body but a quick glance down at his arms showed that the sensation was only in his mind.

He rummaged around in the space beneath the jumble of wires that was the central nervous system of the Tardis, his fingers deftly sorting through assorted spare parts before he pulled a specific item free and stuck it into his last remaining pocket. It wouldn't be an exact fit to the original transducer, but it was a part that he had picked up on his travels several centuries earlier and had held onto just in case he might need it in the future. Little did he know how dire his circumstances would become and with the loss of Gallifrey, it was the best he could hope for.

He reached into his pocket, hand closing around his sonic before he pulled it out and carefully scanned the junction in front of him. He left the spare part in his pocket as he didn't want to risk it being sent flying should the ship be tossed violently once the containment field began to repair itself.

The sonic sputtered and coughed because of interference from the temporal energy that was buffeting him, but it did work long enough to show him exactly where the damage had been done. He tucked the sonic back into his pocket and reached into the mess of wiring in front of him, where he found a part no bigger than the palm of his hand that had been charred to a crisp.

He grunted when he saw the damage, his tongue caught behind his teeth as he dared to glance back up towards the door where Donna stood framed in the window. Her hands were pressed on either side of her face and he could read the concern that was etched on her face even if he couldn't feel her fear, he met her eyes and nodded towards the side of the door where the lever was and waited for her to follow his gaze before she turned back to look at him with a firm nod.

Confident that she understood and was ready for his next actions, the Doctor tossed the ruined transducer aside and reached back into the mess of wires inside the wall. He took four separate wires, his hands shaking as he carefully peeled back the covering to expose a decent length of silvery conduit. He could feel the shuddering in the deck beneath him, the Tardis was in its final death throes and he couldn't wait a moment longer.

The Doctor held his breath as he pressed the wires together, his eyes momentarily blinded by the surge of power that raced through the panel in front of him as the circuit was once more completed. He screamed when the energy raced up his arms and into the wires before him, his body becoming part of the circuit as the Tardis suddenly began to buck wildly beneath his feet. He needn't have worried about being thrown free from the wires because the current held him firmly in place, but the agony that washed over him ricocheted through the bond that he hadn't completely severed from Donna and he could feel her responding cry echo through his mind.

 _Now, Donna! Don't worry about me, throw the lever now!_

He could feel her screaming in his mind, her thoughts trying to shoulder some of the agony he was bearing even as she turned to do as he instructed.

Donna clung to the portal as the ship heaved beneath her feet, her eyes remaining glued to the Doctor until she heard his shout and agony tore through her mind. It took every ounce of will that Donna possessed to turn away from the portal, her mind was crumbling beneath the pain that was pouring through their bond and she barely managed to throw herself at the lever just as the final light flashed to blue. She pushed the lever upwards, grunting at the unexpected resistance that met her motion. The Doctor was yelling loudly in her mind, the strange disjointed Gallifreyan words offered a haunting counterpoint as her hand was finally able to slam the lever home.

The ship began to cartwheel through space when the connection was completed and the agony in her mind suddenly subsided as the Doctor was thrown free from the panel. She felt like a gale was rushing past her, her mouth opened around a bloodcurdling scream as wave after wave of temporal energy scoured her body. Her cry was suddenly cut short with a painful grunt as her body was flattened against the wall, the rush of temporal energy that was being sucked back into the Eye of Harmony seared across overloaded nerves until Donna thought the pain might drive her insane.

There was a sudden explosion of sensation in her thoughts and the presence of the Tardis filled Donna's mind to near bursting. She was blinded by the raw power of the Tardis as she was flung from her panic room, her consciousness reaching out to connect once more with her matrix in an attempt to regain control of her battered shell.

 _Ducky!_ Donna whimpered as she felt the warmth and weariness emanating from the ship; but other than a soft caress of thought, the Tardis was too focused on reestablishing the connection with her circuits to spare both her pilots more than a passing thought.

The Tardis had been fading into nothingness and hadn't known how much longer she would have been able to hold on to her form when she felt the power surge through her shell and her prison had suddenly cracked like an egg.

She had latched onto Donna's consciousness before the Doctor's and had used their presence as a guide to her battered shell, the ricochet that had flung her from her prison had been strong enough to throw her consciousness nearly completely free into nothingness and it was only the strength of her connection to her pilots that allowed her to find her way home.

Donna was weeping against the wall when the wind finally died down, allowing her to claw her way to the portal where she was able to just make out the Doctor's form lying in a crumpled heap against the wall opposite the panel on which he had been working. She futilely pounded against the glass, her voice quickly growing hoarse as she cried out to the Doctor.

The ship began to shudder around her, the unmistakable sound of materialization echoing through the cavernous space beyond the little corridor in which she huddled. Donna slid down against the portal as the strength finally melted from her body, her shoulders shook with fresh sobs and she found she didn't even care where they had materialized.

The Doctor had told her that she wouldn't be able to get to him until the repair was complete, but he wasn't moving and she wasn't sure just how the repair would be completed when the ship wouldn't let her open the door to help him.

She huddled within herself, whimpering when she felt the weak touch of the Tardis brush gently across her mind. Donna looked up with a sniffle when she heard what sounded like footsteps pounding down a corridor that had suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor in front of her.

"Donna! Doctor! Where are you?"

Donna jerked in disbelief at that voice, her head spinning as she moved too quickly. It couldn't be, could it?

" _DOOONNNAA!"_

"Jack? Martha?!" Donna cried out when she saw two shapes run around the corner in front of her, her body sagged against the door in relief when she saw Martha and Jack racing down the corridor towards her.

She had never seen anything as beautiful as the chaos that seemed to surround Jack's body, and it was as the strange sensations of his presence washed over her tortured senses that Donna knew she would always be able to find comfort in his steadfast friendship.

Martha threw herself to the ground beside Donna, her hand reaching up to unwrap her stethoscope from her neck just as Donna whispered, "Please save the Doctor."

The darkness that had been held at bay rose up with a vengeance and dragged Donna down into its murky embrace, her last sight was of Jack and Martha looking down at her with shock and worry etched on their faces.

 _They'll figure it out soon enough, my pilot. Rest now and heal. I will make sure our thief is rescued as well._

Donna felt the Tardis exert a final push on her mind and she was powerless to resist the fall into total darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

" _Within the sound of silence."_

"Come on, Donna, stay with me." Martha was frantic as Donna fainted against the wall that she had been leaning against, and she noticed the dried blood that seemed to have come from a very nasty looking bruise on Donna's left temple.

Jack stood helplessly beside Martha while he looked around the small battered corridor in which Donna had been huddled, but he couldn't see any sign of the Doctor. Donna's last whispered words were echoing like a klaxon through Jack's mind, his body was tensed as he waited for whatever had damaged the Tardis to come for them as well.

It had surprised the both of them when the Tardis materialized in the center of the hub, her doors swinging open in silent invitation. Jack had been the first to overcome his shock and had darted towards the darkened opening when the Doctor and Donna hadn't immediately stepped out to greet them. It was only when he saw the devastation in the control room that he knew that the Doctor was not just making an unexpected social call.

There had been a faint light leading off a corridor to the right of the entrance and Jack had instinctively raced down the corridor, hoping that the light would lead him to the Doctor and Donna. He hadn't expected to find Donna alone, and in what seemed to be very serious condition.

"How is she, Martha?"

Martha shook her head as she flipped open Donna's eyelids one by one, her face was grim before she carefully leaned around Donna's head and found a second large contusion on the right side of her skull. There was dried blood smeared across her face and what looked to be faint burn marks crisscrossing her exposed skin, but it was the two reddened dots with puncture wounds in the center of them that worried her the most.

"She's not doing well, Jack. She's got a massive concussion as well as other internal injuries that I can't even begin to diagnose right now. Her pupils are sluggish to respond and remain unevenly dilated, but it's the wounds on her head that concern me the most."

She looked from Donna to Jack, her face set in grim lines before she reached for her phone and dialed Mickey's number.

"I need you to come back to the hub as fast as possible, Mickey. The Doctor and Donna have returned and Donna's been seriously injured, we don't yet know where the Doctor is but I need help transporting Donna into the medical room." She paused when she heard Mickey's exclamation over the phone, her voice rising slightly to cut through the barrage of questions that were suddenly hurled in her direction.

"I don't have time to explain, Mickey. The Tardis appears to be severely damaged as well and I can't know whether or not the medical bay is working until we locate the Doctor. I need you to bring a back board as well, just in case Donna has other injuries that I can't see at this time."

Jack frowned when he heard Martha's request for a backboard, his body abruptly turning as he began to walk towards a glowing orange portal that was set in the wall several meters to his left. He was worried about the severity of Donna's condition, but he was more worried about the fact that the Doctor was nowhere to be found when it seemed Donna needed him most.

The silence of the Tardis was unnerving and he could tell by the dimming of the lights around them that she was rapidly losing power due to whatever had caused her damage. He leaned up against the portal, hands rising to shield his eyes from the harsh glare and he jerked when he saw a crumpled form laying in a heap against a wall on a walkway that led to a large chamber space beyond.

"Martha! I've found the Doctor and it looks like he's hurt!"

Martha jumped up at Jack's cry, her hands quickly pocketing her mobile phone before she hurried to his side. She pressed her face against the glass set into what looked to be a door, her hands rising to shield her gaze much as Jack's had done and it was only then that she was barely able to make out the darkened shape that was lying on the walkway. "We've got to help him, Jack! Quick, help me get this door open."

Martha reached down to grab what looked to be a lever to pull open the door and gasped when a large spark leaped off the metal to shock her hand. She cried out at the surprising flash of pain though it was more of a light sting then an actual shock, her confused gaze looked up at Jack when she caught him frowning at the door. "What in the world do you think caused that?"

There was a muffled groaning through the corridors, a wheezing sound that seemed to moan down through the air towards them before it faded away. Jack looked back the way they had come before he looked back to Donna's unconscious form. "There's a reason Donna isn't in that chamber with the Doctor, you know that she wouldn't have allowed him to put himself purposely in danger if there was anything she could do to help him."

Jack looked down at the handle again, his mind spinning furiously as he thought that maybe the Tardis was trying to protect Martha from something that would possibly harm or even kill her. "Let me try the door, Martha."

He gently pulled her away from the door, his hand reaching out towards the handle while he closed his eyes in anticipation of a similar shock. His fingers closed around the surprisingly warm metal, but there was no corresponding shock of energy with the contact. He opened first one eye and then the other before he looked back at Martha with a toothy grin. "It looks like the Tardis doesn't want you to go into that room, most likely because it's too dangerous for humans. You take care of Donna, I'll go in and get the Doctor."

Before Martha could even open her mouth to argue, Jack had yanked the door open and stepped into the golden room beyond. Martha threw herself at the portal, her hand reaching for the handle only to have it zapped away once more. "All right, all right! I'll just wait here for them then, it's not like I could do anything for them if I was dead."

Martha thought she could almost feel a grim sense of purpose from the Tardis at her words, and she found she couldn't argue with the ship as they both waited for Jack to bring the Doctor back to safety.

* * *

The silence was deafening.

The Doctor was lying on a hard surface, his eyes clenched closed against blinding waves of energy that had been pouring off the Eye of Harmony. He had felt the ship materialize and had heard Donna's screams in his mind, but he seemed to have lost all control of his muscles and so he could do nothing more than lay in a crumpled heap against the wall where he had been flung.

He could barely breathe through the pain that seemed to envelop his entire body, his mind was teetering on the edge of blackness and it was only through sheer force of will that he was able to maintain consciousness. He had to somehow gain control of his body enough to finish the repair that would then allow the Tardis to shut down properly, but his limbs refused to listen to his mind.

He had finally stopped for a few moments and maybe it would be all right if he just rested for a little while longer before he tried to move again. He knew that Donna would be worried about him, but he was too tired to even reach out to comfort her.

A hand dropped on to his shoulder, startling the Doctor because such a touch should have been impossible with the Eye still out of sync with real time. _Oh god, Donna!_

With a titanic force of will, he forced his eyes open and flopped onto his back where he expected to see Donna even now dying from the unfettered energy that filled the room. His mouth dropped open when he saw Jack leaning tiredly over him, the smile on his face was nearly blinding before he tried to pull the Doctor up into a sitting position.

"What the hell is this place, Doctor? I just died trying to get to you, and I feel like I'm flying apart at the seams."

The Doctor tried desperately to work moisture back into his mouth, his jaw working uselessly for a moment before he was able to force his limbs to move in some semblance of order. He could see that Jack was struggling against the energies in the chamber, his chest was rising in rapid panting breaths against the pain that was quickly rising to consume him. "You're the Eye of Harmony, the source of the Tardis power."

Jack blinked at the Doctor, before he dared to look beyond the wall beside them. His eyes widened when he saw the massive ball of searing gas that was suspended in the empty space in front of him, he jerked back and looked at the Doctor. "Is that a… Is that a STAR?" Jack's eyes rolled back into his head as he slumped down, dead at the Doctor's side.

The Doctor groaned when Jack fell against his chest, his head falling back at the explosion of pain from his broken ribs but he knew that he didn't have much longer to finish the repair to the Tardis before her matrix failed completely.

He had felt her consciousness break out of her panic room, but the connection was incomplete until the final part was in place. Her connection to her matrix was tenuous at best and she was expending tremendous energy that she just didn't have in order to keep her interior intact until her passengers were able to safely make their way off the ship.

He reached up and with a grunt, rolled Jack onto his back; black dots swam across his vision before he was able to force himself up onto his hands and knees.

He patted Jack's hand affectionately, his eyes locking onto the immortal as he waited for the shock of energy that would bring Jack once more back to life.

The energy in the Eye of Harmony was having an especially devastating effect on Jack's unique Artron fueled body. It was disrupting the flow of that energy and thus was causing all of his systems to shut down simultaneously in a bid to preserve his own impossible life. He would continue to die and revive in an endless cycle until the Doctor was able to get him out into the halls of the Tardis.

He forced himself to his feet, body swaying as he felt the vertigo wash over him in nauseating waves but he simply gritted his teeth and forced himself to take one step after another towards the panel where he could see the wires glowing brightly with unfettered energy.

He was glad that he had kept the spare part in his pocket, because he hadn't been expecting the violent backlash that had thrown him free from the panel when the Tardis had reconnected with her matrix. His head was spinning and he knew that he didn't have much longer before he succumbed to darkness once more and then who knew what would become of the Tardis then.

He dropped to his knees, his hand reaching into his last tattered pocket to fish out the spare part that he had found. He licked bone dry lips, hands reaching out to the four wires that he had spliced and fully expecting to be thrown across the walkway once again but the Tardis was in control of her systems enough that she was able to halt the flow of energy just as his hands wrapped around the silvery threads.

Whispering a quiet thanks to his battered ship, he quickly wired the new part into place and nestled it back into the cradle that had held the previous transducer for over a millennium. The power flowed almost instantly through the new component.

The Doctor looked up, a soft smile on his face as he saw the eruptions that had been sprouting all over the surface of the Eye of Harmony suddenly settle into quiescence. The giant prominences that had been exploding off the surface of the dying star were quickly sucked back into its surface and the energy that had been ricocheting in an uncontrolled rampage throughout the ship quite simply disappeared.

The Doctor let out of tired cry of triumph, his body going limp as he sat down hard on the walkway beneath him. The containment field had finally been fully restored and the Tardis could safely shut down her circuits and rest while she soaked up the energy from the rift.

He shouldn't have been surprised that the Tardis had locked on to Jack, she had known that he would be the only one that would be able to save him once he had gone into the power chamber. Even though she had been so terribly damaged and was still fighting to hold her consciousness together, she had made sure that she did everything in her power to protect both her pilots.

There was a sudden gasp across the walkway before Jack sat up abruptly and looked around him with wild eyes, his gaze settled on the Doctor's battered body and he quickly pulled himself across the distance between them. "You look like hell, Doc."

The Doctor just shook his head with a weak chuckle, his hand reaching out to clasp Jack's outstretched hand. "You don't look so good yourself, Jack."

The immortal pulled the Doctor to his feet, his gaze following the line of bruising across the Doctor's face and down to the massive black mark that covered most of his chest. The Doctor cried out at the sudden motion, his arm instantly rising to cradle his tortured ribs before he leaned unashamedly against Jack. "What was in here that killed me so quickly, Doctor and why do I feel just fine now?"

They stumbled back towards the portal where an anxious Martha stood plastered to the window, her hands splayed against the glass beyond which she waited for them to make it to safety. "It was part of what was wrong with the Tardis. The force from the Eye of Harmony is part of the energy that made you immortal, but your energy mutated enough that it conflicted with the force in this room. The Eye was unstable and would have destroyed itself eventually if I hadn't finished that repair, but now it's fine and the containment field is back in place." He paused to take a shallow breath, a low groan of pain bubbling through clenched lips before he was able to finish his train of thoughts. "It would've most likely ripped you apart eventually if you'd stayed in here for much longer."

Jack winced softly when he heard the Doctor's words, his mind flashing back unbidden to the last time he had been aboard the Tardis and had died so terribly. "The ship wouldn't let Martha come inside, it shocked her hand to keep her from opening the door."

The Doctor nodded tiredly, his hand reaching up to pull the latch back before he responded. "The Tardis cares about each of my companions and she also knew that Martha or Donna would've been killed almost instantly if they had entered the chamber while the Eye was out of control. She would've made sure to keep them safe."

Jack smiled as the Doctor pushed the door open, his hand reaching out to lightly pat the wall beside the hatchway in gratitude. He'd always felt a fond connection with the ship and he could've sworn he felt a gentle caress brush against his mind before it faded away once more.

Martha pounced on the Doctor the instant he was through the doorway, her arms rising up to grab him in a tight hug before she pulled back at his instant cry of pain. "What the hell happened to the two of you, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked beyond Martha and felt his face go pale at the sight that greeted him. Mickey was kneeling at Donna's side with a huge smile on his face when he saw the Doctor stumble out of the portal. Donna, however, was strapped to a backboard that had been lain on the ground in preparation for transport, her skin was waxen and there seemed to be fresh blood dripping from the wounds on her temples.

"Donna!" he cried out as he threw himself to his knees beside her body, the pain that screamed through him at that motion was barely noticed while his mind reached out to try to make contact with her thoughts. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the warm flicker meet his probe, his body suddenly collapsing beside her as all the terror he'd felt in the last desperate hours finally drained completely away. "She's still alive."

Martha knelt beside him, her hand reaching up to gently stroke his unbruised cheek while her touch was a welcome distraction to the shocking loss of energy that left the Doctor momentarily breathless. "Yes, she's alive, Doctor but she is hurt very badly. I need you to tell me everything that happened and also what medication, if any, you gave her, so that I can treat her appropriately."

The Doctor looked sharply back at Martha, his breath catching at the throbbing pain that lanced through his temples at the sudden motion. "How do you know I gave her anything?"

Martha indicated the twin red marks on Donna's arm, the slightly puffy area around an obvious injection site was all the indication she needed to realize he had tried to treat her as best he could. "I couldn't sterilize the needle or the area before I injected her and the medical bay had been nearly destroyed so that most of my more advanced means of administering any drugs were useless. I had to use an old fashioned hypodermic needle to get medication into her system as quickly as possible. You're going to need to give her a broad-spectrum antibiotic in order to combat the infection, but once the Tardis finishes her repair cycle then I can finish any extra treatment she might need in the medical bay."

Martha nodded softly when she heard the Doctor's words, the trepidation that she had felt when she saw those injection sites fading away with the knowledge that it had been the Doctor that treated her.

There was a soft whisper in the Doctor's mind, a tired sigh that caused the Doctor to look up at the ceiling with sympathy. The Tardis needed rest desperately to finish healing and they were taxing the last of her energy to the limit the longer they remained on board.

"We need to get off the Tardis now, she's still badly damaged and needs to be able to shut down completely so that she can let her systems repair themselves."

"I'll help Jack with Donna, Doctor, let Martha help steady you as we make our way out of here. The way back is a mess of broken conduits and buckled walkways, you don't need to have a nasty fall now that you've come this far."

The Doctor smiled at Mickey, surprised at how easily he took control and his voice brooked no argument. "Thanks, Mickey. I will leave her in both of your capable hands."

Jack chuckled softly as he and Mickey carefully lifted Donna's stretcher and settled it between them for the trek back to the hub. Martha lifted the Doctor's arm and draped it over her shoulder as she slid her arm around his waist for support. "Don't try to walk completely on your own, Doctor. You look like you're about to fall over and trust me, I don't want to have to send the boys back in to rescue your skinny hide again!"

The Doctor grinned down at Martha, not at all surprised that she was speaking to him in such a no-nonsense tone when he had never been a very good patient for her in the past. He gratefully leaned against her, letting her bear some of his weight as together they slowly began to climb out of the wreckage of the Tardis.

It was only the Doctor that noticed the lights fading behind them, and the corridor slowly disappearing with each step they took towards the exit. He reached out to his ship with a final softly whispered command. _Rest now, old girl. You've earned this time, take as long as you need._

There was a faint response that was filled with so much gratitude that it nearly brought tears to the Doctor's eyes. _Thank you for not giving up on me, my thief._

The Doctor smiled and reached out a hand to pat the wall beside the door before he responded, _I will never give up on you._

He stepped out of the Tardis and sighed softly when the doors swung resolutely closed behind him. He felt the connection with his ship quiver for a moment longer, then the consciousness slowly faded to a dull murmur as the Tardis let herself drift so that her battered shell could finally begin to repair itself.

The Tardis had brought the both of them to safety even though she had been near death, and the Doctor knew that he would never be able to adequately express his gratitude. The beauty of their bond meant that he would never have to worry that his ship didn't know.


	9. Epilogue

The next few hours passed in a blur for the Doctor as Martha laid him down on a second hospital bed that had been brought into the autopsy/medical room that served as the Hub's hospital wing. The waves of energy that usually bombarded his system when he was close to the rift in Cardiff seemed strangely muted after the ordeal that he had just endured aboard the Tardis. It was with a profound sense of relief that he was finally able to let the pain and exhaustion wash completely over him.

He watched as Martha carefully transferred Donna from the backboard onto the main examination table, her movements efficient as she ordered Jack to set up a saline drip. The Doctor had tried to help tend to Donna's injuries but Martha had instructed him to sit on the other bed so that she could focus on Donna, and if he had tried to move again she would have no compunction to restrain him to that bed.

He could tell that the instructions came from good intentions, but Martha was in full doctor mode and Donna was by far the more severe patient at this time. It went against everything in his nature to step back and let anyone else tend to Donna, but he knew that he would be much more of a hindrance at this time.

The Doctor carefully sat on the edge of the hospital bed, wincing at the pain that stabbed through his chest with the motion but his eyes remained glued to the activity around the other bed. He reached within himself, his mind drifting along the gossamer strands of his bond with Donna to find her slumbering presence and gently wrap himself around the softly pulsing light. She was sleeping deeply, far more deeply than she otherwise should have been and he couldn't help the pleased smile when he detected the Tardis' hand in sending her into a deep rejuvenating sleep.

Knowing that she was finally well beyond the pain that had tortured her for the last few hours, the Doctor finally allowed himself to slump in on himself and simply wait for Martha to finish with Donna.

Jack had served as a medic in both world wars and so was a competent nurse, but he also knew when he was way out of his league. Martha snapped on a pair of surgical gloves and with Jack's support, carefully stripped Donna's battered jacket from her body so that she could better examine her.

The worst of the injuries seemed to be focused around the two large bruises on Donna's head, but Martha didn't discount the odd burn marks on Donna's hands as she struggled to stabilize her. She instructed Jack to start an oxygen line and strap it under Donna's nose to make breathing easier, before she pulled the mobile x-ray machine over to scan her entire body.

Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any fractures other than the obvious trauma to her head, but it was still that trauma that worried Martha the most. The Doctor wasn't in the best shape either, but she felt that he would be warning her if he feared that there was serious danger from swelling in Donna's brain.

She continued with her examination, her gloved fingers turning Donna's hands over as she carefully cut away her sleeves to show that the burns travelled up past her elbow before they faded away. They looked strangely like electrical burns, but Donna didn't show any of the classic signs of electrocution.

Frowning to herself, Martha called out, "Mickey, I need you to get me 6 packs of gel dressing and several rolls of gauze bandages. I want to wrap Donna's hands for the time being until I can examine her burns more thoroughly. Then please help Jack wrap both hands to her elbows."

"They're reactions from interacting with temporal fields, they should fade on their own with time."

Martha jerked at the tired sound of the Doctor's voice, his body was hunched over in obvious distress, but his gaze was frighteningly focused when he looked at her. She stepped away from Donna for a moment, her steps carrying her quickly to the Doctor's side where she asked, "Why was she touching temporal fields, Doctor? What happened? Anything you can tell me will help in my treatment."

The Doctor took a careful pained breath, his gaze darting from Donna to Martha before he struggled to sit up a little straighter. "The dimensional multiphasic transducer failed on board the Tardis."

The blank look on Martha's face caused a weak laugh to bubble up from nowhere, a laugh that caused the Doctor to double over in pain before he was able to continue. "I'm sorry, it's the heart of the Tardis' temporal brain and is what allows her to manipulate time in all eleven dimensions. When that part failed, the Tardis' consciousness was ripped from her matrix and reality shattered inside the ship."

Jack whistled softly when he heard the Doctor's comments, his attention distracted momentarily from Donna's bandages as he called out, "No wonder you both are such a mess, is the Tardis going to be alright?"

The Doctor looked to Jack with a soft smile, his eyes closing for a moment just to assure himself of the faint connection to his ship before he nodded. "Yes, Jack. I was able to repair the damage but she has shut herself down in order to fully heal. When reality shattered, there were pockets of time and space floating through the ship and apparently, I was trapped in one of those pockets when the damage initially occurred. Donna had to free me from that pocket. The burns on her arms came from that attempt and were later worsened when we were both trapped in a pocket of reality several hours later."

The Doctor didn't elaborate on what had happened in those pockets of reality, Donna had been far more shaken by the face to face meeting with a younger version of the Master than she had let on and he knew that she wouldn't appreciate it if he spoke too casually of their experiences before she had had time to fully process what had happened.

Martha watched the Doctor thoughtfully, her eagle-eyed gaze not missing the exhaustion that was causing him to droop where he sat nor the pain that continued to plague his features. He needed rest and he needed it now.

"Doctor, I'm going to sedate you for now. I don't want you to argue, but you're doing yourself more harm than good by struggling to stay awake. Donna is in good hands now, but I need to make sure that I take care of you as well."

The Doctor looked up at her with a stubborn set to his jaw, his lips parting before she interrupted him. "Don't argue with me, Doctor. I know if you're showing even this much pain, then you're in worse shape than you're letting yourself admit and by remaining conscious you are only injuring yourself further."

The Doctor's mouth snapped shut and he seemed to wilt in on himself with her final words. He couldn't deny what she said because he was fighting against his body's need to fall into a deep rejuvenating sleep and he knew that he wouldn't be able to attain the level of unconsciousness needed on his own to allow his body to begin to heal itself.

Both he and Donna were safe now and in excellent care, it was time that he allowed himself to step back and let his old companions tend to the both of them.

Martha only waited for his faint nod, before she hurried to a medicine cabinet that was tucked against the wall. The Doctor noticed her pull her glove off and pull a key from her pocket, before she unlocked the cabinet and pulled out a Time Lord friendly sedative, one that she had always kept on hand just in case the Doctor had ever come to her needing assistance.

She locked the cabinet once more and returned to the Doctor's side, thankful now that she had kept the drug as she opened a sterile syringe package and carefully drew the medication into the needle. Taking an alcohol wipe and cleaning a spot on his forearm, she found a vein and slid the needle in. The fact that the Doctor barely flinched told her just how much pain he was suffering and confirmed, in her mind, that she had made the correct decision.

She glanced up to Mickey when she pulled the needle free, her slight nod all he needed to step forward to help her lay the Doctor gently down on the bed. She brushed the Doctor's hair out of his already drooping eyes, her touch gentle on the unbruised side of his face so that she could meet his concerned gaze. "Rest well, Doctor. We're here now and we'll make sure the both of you are good as new."

The Doctor smiled briefly up at Martha before he let his eyes flutter shut and his mind floated free in the blessed darkness. His last thought was to reach out to Donna's slumbering presence, where he wrapped himself up in her warmth and finally let the worry of the last few hours melt away.

* * *

Donna was floating.

She tried to take a deep breath as she looked around the strange featureless place in which she found herself, but she felt strangely disconnected from her body and couldn't seem to move any of her limbs.

"Doctor!"

Donna felt his presence immediately as he seemed to surround her with his energy and helped to still the panic that had very quickly been rising within her.

"I'm right here, Donna. You've been asleep for quite a long time, I finally decided to join you in your cocoon."

"Why can't I see you, Doctor? Am I blind?"

She felt his mental embrace tighten at her question, the blinding flash of love and something far more potent and alien before he responded. "No, you're not blind, Donna, but you are still sleeping. You've been resting for days now."

"I'm dreaming then?"

A gentle, almost there caress flickered through her thoughts; she could just imagine the warm chocolate of the Doctor's eyes darkening as his fingers would float over her face as if he was trying to memorize her features all over again. "Not quite dreaming, Donna. I'm very definitely real and my essence is sharing this place with you, but I guess you could call it a dream state."

There was a pause, in which Donna let herself float in the embrace of the Doctor's mind, the fact that her body seemed to be a million miles away didn't bother her as much as she felt it should because she knew that the Doctor's presence was the anchor she needed to keep her mind and body intact. "The Tardis helped to send you into this dream state so that you could heal more completely while she had to shut down to complete her own repairs. I simply couldn't stand not feeling your thoughts anymore and so I followed our bond here."

"This... is… wizard!"

His chuckle was felt more than heard, but she could see faint shimmers of burgundy and gold streaking through the space around her and it was such a beautiful sight that she just let her thoughts melt deeper into the Doctor's presence. "We've never had to come to a place like this before, but this state is one that Time Lords would often enter in order to meditate or heal serious injuries. The fact that you were able to find this place with the Tardis' help is a good sign and merely an indication of your growing control over your own abilities."

Donna's mind whirled with questions at the Doctor's words, her thoughts tightening around the Doctor's momentarily before she asked, "Why did the Tardis send me here? I felt her thoughts at the last moment and I think I fought against her for moment, but then there was nothing. I only just found this place, Doctor."

An image flickered before her, the Doctor's body entwined with hers on a white hospital bed as the two of them lay curled tightly around each other before the featureless void closed in around her once more. She was shaken by that sight, her mind struggling against the strange lassitude that seemed to keep her trapped in this place. "Your mind was sleeping for days, Donna. You're only now just starting to come out of the healing sleep that you were in and your mind found this in between place where I would be able to find you before you woke up completely."

"I'm scared of the pain, Doctor. It hurt so much before, I'm scared that it will all come back when I do wake up."

The warmth that pulsed around her thoughts was all the answer she needed, but the Doctor's thoughts were gentle and firm when he responded. "The worst of the pain should be gone, Donna. Martha has taken very good care of the both of us and now the Tardis is nearly ready for us to rejoin her as well. If any residual pain remains, then I will have full access to the medical bay and will be able to deal with any injuries that remain."

Donna paused for a moment more, her mind reveling in the closeness she felt with the Doctor before she asked, "Are you better too, Doctor?"

"I am better, Donna, but I do need to use the bone knitter that I have on the Tardis to fully heal my ribs. I'd rather not be incapacitated for weeks while they heal naturally."

She drifted deeper into the Doctor's embrace before she whispered, "I'm sorry you're still in pain, Doctor. In that case, I think I'm ready to wake up now."

The Doctor couldn't help the burst of warm pride at her words, the fear she still felt at the prospect of waking up in a world of agony was not enough to keep her unconscious as soon as she heard that he was still hurt and needed to be treated. "Are you sure you're ready, Donna? We can stay here a while longer if need be."

Donna latched onto the Doctor's presence and used it as a guide up through the levels of unconsciousness and towards her slumbering body. "I need to see your eyes again, Doctor. I'm ready to face the world."

"That's my brilliant Donna!" The Doctor's warm thoughts followed her from her safe haven and back into the physical world.

Donna lay on the hospital bed with her eyes closed as she tried to take stock of her body and surroundings. She still felt a slight sense of vertigo even with her eyes closed, but the blinding agony that had been a constant before she lost consciousness was conspicuously absent.

She was held tightly against the Doctor's chest, his hand absentmindedly stroking her hair while his lips rested against her forehead. She could feel his mind still moving within hers, but the contact was less intimate than the place that they had just shared.

It felt like her head was still wrapped in a soft bandage, though she couldn't tell the extent of the injury that still remained but the rest of her body seemed to be in okay shape.

She sensed movement next to the bed and with a soft groan, burrowed deeper into the Doctor's embrace when she felt a soft hand touch her back. "Donna, I need you to roll over for a minute so I can examine you. You've been asleep for ten days and I want to make sure you're alright to be waking up now."

Donna grimaced against the Doctor's chest when she heard Martha's words, her eyes popping open as she flopped onto her back. She cried out at the bright light that stabbed into her eyes, her shaky arm rising to shield her gaze where she could just make out the outline of Martha leaning over the bed.

"Easy now, Donna. Try not to move so quickly, it will take some time for your equilibrium to return."

Donna blinked furiously against the tears that were burning her eyes from the intensity of the examination light over head, her head was spinning as the room around her refused to come into focus.

"Doctor, I can better examine her if you get off the table for a few moments."

Donna grinned softly when she felt the steadfast refusal blaze through his thoughts. "I'm not moving, Martha. You can examine her with me right here."

Martha shook her head with a glare at the recalcitrant Time Lord, but she knew that he had been worried sick for the last few days when Donna hadn't awoken on her own and had spent hours each day laying in bed with her while he let his mind drift with hers in her dreamless state. Martha had initially been concerned when Donna remained so deeply unconscious with no medical intervention, but the Doctor had warned her that the Tardis had sent her into this dreamless state and that she would remain there until her body was sufficiently healed for her to regain consciousness.

There really was no reason for the Doctor to move from his perch, it just meant that Martha's examination would take a little longer than normal. "How are you feeling, Donna?"

"Other than a little dizziness and a bit of a headache from the lights, I feel alright."

Martha's movements were matter of fact as she examined Donna's pupil and capillary response. She was pleased that the burn marks that had marred her hands had disappeared entirely, and the swelling around her temples had completely vanished. The brilliant bruising that had colored almost her entire head was now almost gone and only a faint greenish hue still lingered around the worst injury sites. If the Doctor hadn't explained the healing trance in detail to Martha over the last ten days, she wouldn't have believed such a rapid recovery would have been possible.

Donna's DNA was sufficiently changed that she had been able to be pushed into a Time Lord healing trance where her body had taken all the energy that she normally would have used to stay awake to mend her broken body in an astonishingly short length of time.

Donna was struggling to get her bearings as she looked up at Martha, the glare from the lights was casting the doctor in a strange lurid glow that seemed to produce a halo around her dark head. She was surprised that she didn't see any pulses of temporal energy around Martha or the room in which she lay and she wondered if she had dreamed the Tardis bringing them to the hub. Her temporal sense was blessedly quiet for the moment except for a dull burn that seemed to shiver across forgotten nerves.

She blinked when she thought back on what Martha had said and asked in a dull whisper. "Did you say I was out for ten whole days?"

Martha nodded in response to Donna's question, her hand rising to pull the stethoscope buds from her ears before she turned back to Donna and began to carefully unwind the bandage that still remained wrapped around her temples. "Yes, Donna. You were out for ten days. The Doctor said that the Tardis had sent you into some sort of healing trance and nothing I could do would be able to bring you out of it."

Martha's lips were pursed as she carefully turned Donna's head from one side to the other, before she leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest with a soft sigh. "After I was able to initially stabilize you, I didn't do much other than keep you hydrated and medicated against any infection that might have been festering." She brushed a fringe of hair away from Donna's eyes, her own gaze locking with Donna's before she whispered. "You're a very lucky woman, Donna Noble. From what the Doctor told me about what happened on board the Tardis, you're lucky that you didn't suffer any permanent brain damage from your injuries."

Donna felt the Doctor's arms tighten around her body, the flash of remorse that echoed through their bond was so fast that Donna wasn't entirely certain that she had felt it before she heard the Doctor's words. "I hated moving her, Martha. It went against every protocol that I knew from all my studies of human medicine, but I had no other choice."

Martha nodded at the Doctor's words, but it was Donna that turned her head to respond to his words. "I already told you that we did what we had to do, Doctor. There's no need to feel any regret over what happened, and besides we were able to save the Tardis!"

The Doctor smiled wanly down into her earnest gaze, his eyes boring into hers for a moment longer before he took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right, Donna. We did save the Tardis, and she has been anxiously waiting for you to awaken so that she could thank you properly as well."

"I hope you're planning on taking some time to make sure there aren't any other serious component failures before you go adventuring again, Doctor."

Donna turned at the sound of Jack's voice, her eyes widening when she noticed that the wildly chaotic timelines that she had so briefly glimpsed aboard the Tardis were noticeably absent and that he appeared wholly human and completely normal once more to her. She couldn't forget the feeling of comfort that had filled her mind when she had seen him aboard the Tardis and her hand reached out to grasp his tightly in gratitude. "Thank you for helping the both of us, Jack. I don't know what I would have done if the Tardis hadn't brought us to you."

The immortal smiled down at Donna, his eyes drifting to the Doctor who still lay entwined with Donna's form completely comfortable and very obviously not caring that either of them would see him in such a compromising position. The Doctor had been beside himself the last few days while he waited for Donna to wake up, and his frustration had been compounded when the Tardis doors had remained locked to him as well.

Jack had tried to understand what exactly the Doctor and Donna had experienced aboard the Tardis after this transducer had failed, and it was only his extensive training in the Time Agency that had allowed him to grasp even a fraction of what the Doctor had described. He had been surprised and a little troubled when the Doctor had described how Donna's abilities had grown and how she had been the guiding force that had led them towards the temporal core.

The Doctor had been thankful that Jack had jumped into the core without question to help him focus enough through the pain to affect the final repair, before the Tardis had completely destroyed herself. He caught the Doctor's eyes, the Time Lord's gaze telling Jack everything that the man would never be able to say aloud. Jack merely nodded in response to that gratitude before he smiled back down at Donna.

"You're more than welcome, Donna. It was you and the Tardis that did all the work though, I merely came along at the end to pull his skinny butt out of the fire."

The last was said with a jerk of his head towards the Doctor, his eyes crinkling with amusement at the cry of indignation from the recumbent Time Lord. "Hey, Jack, now I resent that comment! I had things well in hand and if I remember correctly YOU were the one who kept dying on me in the temporal core."

Jack laughed at the look of horror that crossed Donna's face, her hand reaching out to grasp Jack's as she whispered. "That must have been so painful for you, Jack. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

Jack was surprised at the sincerity in Donna's words, his wide eyes locking onto hers for a moment when he thought he felt the faint brush of her mind against his before she pulled away. He couldn't help the warm smile that seemed to transform his sometimes harsh features, his hand gripping hers firmly in response to the warmth he felt in her grasp. "I'll always do anything I possibly can to help a friend, Donna. I'm lucky that the deaths don't stick and in the end, it looked like the Doctor needed me just to get the job done."

The Doctor groaned at Jack's words, knowing that he would never be able to live it down but unable to help a soft laugh. "We're even now, Jack."

"Oh, we're keeping score now, Doctor? I'll have to remember that."

Martha playfully smacked Jack's arm before she muscled back into their conversation, her hands deftly reaching out to take Donna's left hand into her own. "Alright, Jack. Let the two of them wake up fully before they go running off into the universe again. I swear, Doctor, if you're going to be coming back here to get patched up all the time maybe you should consider having a full-time medic aboard the Tardis again."

The Doctor's arms tightened around Donna for a moment before he murmured. "The position is there if you want it, Martha."

Martha gasped at the Doctor's offer, her eyes darting from his deep chocolate gaze down to Donna's shining blue orbs which only seemed to confirm the Doctor's words. She remembered all too well how hard it had been to say goodbye to the Doctor the last time, how she felt as if she had been ripping her heart and soul out just to finally step off the Tardis.

Martha was saved from a response when Jack erupted, "Hey, Doctor! Stop trying to steal my best medic!"

Martha laughed softly at Jack's exclamation, turning to send him a small grateful smile before she turned back to the Doctor. "It's nice to know that I'll have a job should there ever be a need, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded and looked towards the railing of the medical bay just as Mickey was making his way down the stairs to their side. He was surprised when Donna shifted firmly against him, her mind snapping within his to stop making a spectacle of them by continuing to lay in bed with her. She felt uncomfortable enough laying on a hospital bed with Jack and Martha standing over her head, but having Mickey join the group was more than she could readily handle.

The Doctor smiled down at his ginger wife, his arms tightening briefly around her body before he untangled himself from her and rolled to his feet on the other side of his bed. Donna was still incredibly prim when it came to overt public displays of affection between them, and it seemed lying in bed with his arms wrapped tightly around her while a crowd gathered and gawked was finally crossing some invisible line.

"The doors to the Tardis just opened, Doctor. I didn't go inside, but I could see the control room quite clearly through the opening."

The Doctor couldn't contain the huge smile that lit his features at Mickey's words, his eyes closing as he felt the Tardis' song suddenly swell within his mind once more. He took a deep shuddering breath, happy that the gaping hole that had been left by his ship's silence was finally once again filled. He looked down just in time to see Donna's eyes close with a smile as the Tardis reached out to her as well; her hand reached up to tangle with his when the ship greeted them both with a joyous exclamation.

"Thank you, Mickey! I've been waiting for that."

Mickey stepped up beside Martha and pulled her yielding body into his arms, his gaze drifting over Donna and the Doctor's clasped hands before he let himself smile in response. The Doctor had changed drastically since he had travelled with him and Rose, and he could tell that the change was in no small part due to the woman who was lying on the bed between them.

"Does this mean the Tardis is ready to travel again?"

"Yes, it does, Mickey. But for once, I'm going to take Jack's advice and spend a few days or weeks making sure that all her major systems are repaired and replace any parts that might need replacing. I never want to experience another failure like that again if at all possible."

"I couldn't have heard that correctly, Doctor. Did you say you were going to listen to my advice?" Jack teased the Time Lord.

"I do listen to advice from time to time, Jack." The resulting snorts of derision from his three former companions were almost deafening.

Donna laughed softly before she struggled to sit up, her hand rising to gingerly touch her left temple where the worst bruise had been and she sighed in relief when that touch didn't hurt.

"Just where do you think you're going, Donna?" Martha's tone brooked no nonsense, but Donna just looked up at the young doctor with a soft smile.

"Am I fit to travel again, Martha?"

Martha pursed her lips, her eyes flashing as she looked from Donna to the Doctor before she reluctantly nodded. "Yes, you are, Donna, though I didn't do much to help you heal. I strongly suggest that you rest for a few days longer though before any more adventuring."

"That won't be a problem, Martha. The Doctor has some final repairs to finish and I plan to spend the next few days in bed with a good book. But we do have a promise to keep to my grandfather, and we're already several days late."

The Doctor stepped to Donna's side, his hand reaching out to grasp hers in a steadying motion as she moved to swing her legs over the side of the bed. "Don't worry about that, Donna. I'll make sure that we are on time for our date with Wilf, but I think we should take Martha's advice and you should rest for a few more days while I work on the repairs to the Tardis."

Donna looked up at the Doctor with shock before she let her shoulders slump in defeat. "You can recuperate aboard the Tardis, Donna. I actually recommend that you do so. It is much more beneficial to rest in your home after a serious trauma, it helps your body complete its final healing process."

Donna smiled gratefully to Martha, uncertain if the physician could tell how uncomfortable she was being so near to the rift after her recent ordeal aboard the Tardis. "Thank you, Martha."

Martha smiled back at Donna before she turned back to shoo Jack and Mickey out of the autopsy lab. "Alright lads, out you get. Time for Donna to freshen up and she doesn't need the two of you gawking while she does it."

Jack and Mickey let themselves be herded out of the room with minimal protest, though Jack did look back at Donna with a playful leer that he made sure the Doctor noticed before he raced up the steps and back into the hub.

The Doctor turned back to Donna with a shake of his head at Jack's antics, his hand rising to brush her cheek gently before he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "Are you certain that you're up to moving, Donna? I was worried that you were unconscious for so long and nothing I did could wake you up."

Donna reached up and took the Doctor's hand into her own, her eyes shining up into his before she murmured. "I'm so thankful that Jack, Mickey and Martha were able to help us when we so desperately needed them, but I want to go home. I want to make sure that the Tardis is okay, and I want to put this terrible ordeal behind us."

The Doctor smiled softly when he heard Donna call the Tardis home, his hearts clenched for a moment in wonder before he leaned down and pulled out a small duffle bag that had a change of clothing and various toiletries for Donna to make herself more presentable. "I've been waiting for you to wake up, so Martha made sure to pick up all the necessities since I couldn't get back into the Tardis."

Donna smiled up at the opening of the autopsy room at the evidence of Martha's thoughtfulness, her hand reaching out to take the bag from the Doctor before she quickly shed the voluminous hospital gown and quickly began to dress herself.

He shouldn't have been surprised at how quickly Donna was dressed and her hair pulled back into its customary ponytail. She grimaced slightly as she stuffed the deodorant and hair brush back into the bag, before she met his gaze with a playful smile. "I'm going to take an hour-long shower as soon as we're back in the vortex, Doctor."

His eyes flashed for a moment at Donna's comment, her eyes were dancing with mirth as she reached out to take his hand so that they could mount the stairs up to the main part of the Hub. "I'll be happy to join you, Donna. If I remember correctly, we were interrupted with the failure of the transducer when we'd first come back to the Tardis from Kalifa's moon."

Donna grinned softly up at the Doctor, her hand gripping his tightly as they mounted the stairs and stepped into the Hub. Jack, Martha and Mickey stood by the Tardis' open doors, but the rest of Jack's team was noticeably absent.

The Doctor smiled softly as he looked at his three friends, his appreciation evident that they had kept this moment somewhat between family. Donna was still shaky on her legs, but she was determined to not show any weakness just in case Martha would pounce on the weakness as an indication that she needed to be confined to bedrest for longer.

"I wish you'd stay a little, Doctor. You've been a huge resource the last few days with our backlog of artifacts."

The Doctor smiled at Mickey as he pulled the young man into a tight embrace, he couldn't help the feeling of warmth that he felt when he saw how well Mickey had matured in the years since he had first come aboard the Tardis with Rose. He was still somewhat ashamed of his behavior towards the young man, and was grateful that he didn't seem to harbor any lingering ill will towards the Doctor. It seemed like they had both matured quite a bit since those first heady days in the Tardis when he had been reeling so terribly from the trauma of the Time War.

"I'll be back more often than not, Mickey. Don't worry, I'll help whenever we come for a visit and if something really stumps you then send me the information and I'll see what I can do to help. I'm not that hard to reach these days." The last was said with a pointed glance to Martha who was talking quite animatedly with Donna, his smile for his former companion was nearly blinding.

Martha turned towards the Doctor when she heard his words, her eyes sparkling as she patted the mobile phone in her pocket. "I promised you that I'd see you again, Doctor, and I meant that promise."

The Doctor reached for Martha, hugging her tightly before he held her back at arm's length. "Oh, Martha Jones, I can't begin to tell you how proud of you I am. Thank you for being such a good friend even when I was too blind to see it."

Martha squeaked when the Doctor hugged her, her arms wrapping around his shoulders instinctively avoiding his still injured ribs before she was able to smile up into his eyes. "I don't regret a minute of it, Doctor. But you better take care of those ribs before you run off to save any planets, do you hear? And that is a doctor's order."

Donna grinned up at the Doctor, her gaze shifting to Martha before she responded. "Oh, I intend to make sure that he takes care of himself, Martha. We both deserve some much-needed down time after this last unexpected adventure."

Martha nodded to the both of them before she stepped back to stand with Mickey as the Doctor and Donna finally faced Jack where he stood before the Tardis doors. "Are you sure you have to be off so soon, Doc?"

The Doctor nodded softly, his hand reaching out to twine his fingers with Donna's before he responded, "Yes, I am, Jack. The Tardis needs to reaffirm her bond with us, the healing process isn't complete until she can do so and the longer it's delayed, the more painful it will become for all three of us. We need to be in the Vortex for the bond to be complete once more after the trauma that we've all suffered."

Jack quietly nodded, his wistful eyes gazing into the dim interior of the Tardis surprised at the pang of longing that seemed to well out of nowhere. It'd been millennia since he had travelled with the Doctor, but for the first time, he found himself yearning to join the Time Lord on his adventures and was more than a little saddened that he would once more be left behind. "Don't be a stranger, Doc. Either of you, and don't just come to visit when the universe is ending. I'm starting to like this new domestic side of you."

The Doctor grinned softly to break the solemn tension that seemed to flare between the two of them, his hand reaching up to clap the immortal on the shoulder before he quipped, "That's just because you're an old man, Jack."

Jack threw his head back and laughed, his hand reaching up to clasp the Doctor's in a firm grip. "I guess I had that one coming."

"Keep an eye out for any strange activity please, Jack and let me know if you see anything in this rift or any of the other rifts on earth. The prophecy is still out there, but something tells me that the time is coming sooner than we think."

Jack nodded grimly at the Doctor's words, his gaze shifting to Donna who stood resolutely at the Doctor's side. He knew that the both of them would do what needed doing no matter what faced them, but he couldn't help but feel a shiver of trepidation at the Doctor's words. "I will keep watch, Doctor, don't you worry."

The Doctor nodded just as Donna reached out and pulled Jack into a tight embrace, her voice soft against his ear as she whispered. "Thanks for everything, Jack."

He squeezed Donna tightly in response, before he pulled back and stepped over to join Mickey and Martha. "Safe journeys to the both of you, don't be strangers and please come for a visit soon."

The Doctor and Donna waved to their friends before they turned and stepped onto the newly repaired Tardis, the doors closed silently behind them and the lights blazed to full intensity as they felt the Tardis reach out to reconnect with the both of them.

Donna let her head fall back when she felt the gentle caress of thought as it settled once more into her mind, the excited murmuring of the ship fading to a dull whisper that guided the both of them up the ramp and to the control console.

Donna gasped when she saw all four spacesuits and helmets sitting in a neat line atop the jump seat, the orange suits jarring against the tan colored leather. "You saved them!"

The Doctor laughed and hurried to the control console, his hand reaching out to stroke the levers and knobs on the console in a gentle caress before he looked up at the Time Rotor. "She saved them indeed, Donna! It looks like she is as excited for our trip with Wilf as we are!"

He spun several dials on the control console and threw the main lever home, sending his beloved ship back into the Vortex so that the three of them could finally finish healing.

Donna leaned back against the jump seat when she felt the energy buzzing through the deck grates beneath her feet, the consciousness of the Tardis was delving deeply into both of their minds as she was finally free to float in the void and rejoin her consciousness to her two pilots.

The Doctor set the coordinates to infinite probability in order to keep the Tardis in the vortex for the next few days, then turned around and held out his hand to Donna. "Let's get to the medibay, Donna. I would like to be able to finally take a breath without pain stabbing through my chest, and I want to make sure that the last of your injuries are completely healed as well."

Donna reached out to take the Doctor's hand in hers, her eyes shining up into his somber gaze before she stepped close and draped his arm over her shoulder in reply. "Let's go get you patched up, Doctor, then we can make sure that the Tardis really is good as new before we pick up my grandfather."

The Doctor pulled Donna close to his side as they turned to make their way to the new medibay, his fingers lightly stroking the railing with each step even as his mind whispered his continued relief at the Tardis' newly minted condition.

The ship settled down to enjoy the freedom that she had in the Vortex while her pilots tended to the last of their injuries, content that once more her bond was complete and that the universe was theirs to explore.

* * *

 _Keep watch for the next installment in the Phoenix Universe entitled "The Awakening Storm" coming in the next few months._


End file.
